A project that will see a bowling centre occupy The Oracle shopping centre in Reading has moved a step closer.
Late last year, it was announced that Hollywood Bowl would be moving to The Oracle Riverside, at the lower ground floor unit previously occupied by House of Fraser.
The latest update is that its operator The Original Bowling Company has won permission for activities it will be providing once open.
The company now has licensing consent to open, sell food and provide entertainment such as bowling from 9am until 12.30am each day. Alcohol can also be sold from a bar between 10am to midnight.
Hollywood Bowl will also be able to stay open until 2.30am, especially for New Year’s Eve, with alcohol sales ending at 2am on that night.
The approval is just one step in the project to open the bowling centre, with work required on the unit it will occupy to make it suitable.
Hollywood Bowl is due to open at The Oracle in the summer of 2025.
The bowling centre can move in as the closure of House of Fraser in October last year cleared the way for it.
The House of Fraser is now being divided into three units for occupation by Hollywood Bowl, TK Maxx, which has been confirmed for the lower mall, and a to-be-confirmed occupier for the upper mall.
TK Maxx is due to open in summer 2025 alongside Hollywood Bowl, with work being undertaken on both of the units ahead of occupation.
According to property marketing website Completely Retail, the former House of Fraser upper mall unit is under offer.
The activities for the Hollywood Bowl including the food and alcohol sales has been approved by Reading Borough Council’s licensing department.
The application that appeared in January was due to be discussed by the council’s licensing applications sub-committee on Tuesday, March 5.
The hearing was called after the council’s planning department made a representation, which was subsequently withdrawn.
A consensus was reached between The Original Bowling Company and council planning and licensing officers ahead of the meeting.
The division of the House of Fraser unit and the former Debenhams unit into three new spaces each was approved by the council’s planning applications committee in September last year.
The three units created by the division of the Debenhams store are still to let, with these spaces being listed as ‘under redevelopment’ on the Completely Retail website.
