Lane7 opens in prime Meadowhall location

The new venue will double Lane7’s footprint across Sheffield and strengthen its position in the competitive socialising market.

Lane7 Group, the competitive socialising operator, has opened a prominent location at Meadowhall, expanding its presence in Sheffield and providing a new boutique bowling concept to bolster Meadowhall’s leisure offer.

Meadowhall is one of the UK’s leading retail and leisure destinations, welcoming more than 20 million visitors each year, making it an obvious choice for the operator’s UK expansion. The opening is highly anticipated as Lane7 has been looking for the right opportunity within the centre for several years to support the scale and quality of experience the group wanted to deliver.

The new venue, which is now open, features boutique bowling lanes, food and cocktails, and effectively doubles Lane7’s footprint across the Sheffield area. The opening complements its established city-centre site on Matilda Street and allows the competitive socialising operator to reach a broader audience across Sheffield, Rotherham, and the wider South Yorkshire region.

Gavin Hughes, Managing Director of Lane7 Group, said: “We have wanted to be in Meadowhall for years as it is one of the country’s leading shopping and leisure destinations, with exceptional footfall and a genuinely regional catchment.

This location significantly increases our presence in Sheffield. Our existing city-centre business has performed strongly, and Meadowhall gives us the opportunity to serve a different occasion and a much wider audience.

The move is another example of the consolidation taking place across competitive socialising. The market has developed quickly, but scale, operational capability and continued investment are becoming increasingly important. Lane7 is well positioned to take advantage of further opportunities as the sector matures.”

Richard Crowther, Retail Leasing Director at British Land, added: “Meadowhall is the dominant destination in the region, and in terms of its ability to attract and retain catchment spend, it’s actually the most dominant super regional centre across the entire UK. Having a quality leisure offer to maintain that position matters; we know people will travel further and spend more time here if we deliver that. Bringing in Lane7 was a strategic leasing move to serve an already broad catchment that has the potential to grow further, and its position on The Avenue will only be a positive thing for the high-calibre of retailers we have here.”

The Meadowhall location forms part of Lane7 Group’s wider growth strategy, combining new openings with opportunities to take over established sites in strong locations. The group will continue to explore opportunities where it can add value through its brands, operating platform and experience in developing high-volume leisure venues.