By John Ashbridge, Tenpin Bowling Proprietors Association President
The second centre in the Universal Bowling operation was the 24-lane centre in Main Street, Rotherham which was opened on 14th April 1965. The bowling lanes and machines were supplied by AMF. Little is known about the early operation of the centre or how successful it was, but it only lasted just over two years in Universal ownership. In September 1967 ownership passed to Humber Bowling Ltd and very quickly new policies and promotions were put in place. in line with those introduced into the other centres recently acquired by Humber Bowling. Despite a number of initiatives, it was not possible to make the centre profitable and it closed on 1st July 1972 when the average lineage (number of games per lane per day) was just 9.
