Indoor family days out to do on a rainy day

A Rainy Day Indoors Family Activity | Tenpin Bowling York Review

A Morning Bowling at Tenpin Clifton Moor York

At first, we were a bit apprehensive about visiting Tenpin in York after reading many reviews on trip advisor stating the building was very old and rundown and understaffed with slow service. We decided that we would make our own mind up once we got there and if it were not great we would not return! We have not been bowling before as a family, and we wanted something different to do that we’d not done before with our girls.

Having two teenage daughters and a 9-year-old makes planning days out a little tricky…  Finding something that we can all enjoy is particularly difficult when they’re all into different things. First of all, I would like to mention what impressed me the most was the price… fantastic, the regular price is £61 for two games of bowling for two adults and three under 16’s, but we got a school holidays deal, which cost £48 for two games including a meal, this is a bargain family trip!

When booking online, it states to make sure you arrive at least 15 minutes early. If you’re late, you could risk losing your booking, which is non-refundable. This worried me as it takes 30 to 40 minutes, depending on traffic, to get there from Harrogate. Our first visit was during the Easter holidays. We had allowed 1 hour for a 30-minute journey, and we got caught up in traffic due to temporary lights with no alternative way around it.  Panicking that we would lose our booking, I called ahead and spoke to the manager on duty explained we were running late due to traffic caused by roadworks; he was very polite and very understanding informed me it was not a problem as we were only a few minutes away!

Even with arriving 10 minutes late, we were in and set up and ready to start bowling within 5 minutes of arriving! With no queueing at the desk despite the place being busy… all the lanes were full for the duration of our visit, and we didn’t see anyone having issues at any point. There was plenty of frames to assist little kids, plenty of bowling balls and plenty of room for the 5 of us.

On our most recent visit this week, we got the same deal for two games, including a meal for the same price. Only this time we invited the girl’s Gran and Aunt to meet us thereafter we had made our online booking. My husband called the existing booking telephone number from the website to add the additional members to our reservation; this wasn’t a problem! We also changed to one of the adult meals due to dietary needs; no questions asked, he did this for us! The staff on the phones are always very polite and accommodating!

We found ourselves in had the same scenario, only this time we were running about 20 minutes late! I honestly thought that we would lose the booking and the £76 that we’d just paid for 7 of us. So I called the existing booking line got through straight away. The Man I got through to was great, very understanding, and he managed to push our booking to 11 am, he didn’t have to do this, after all, it was our fault that we were late… I was very grateful!

Again, we had no problem with queuing at the kiosk we got straight away; we didn’t have to wait for a lane. You don’t need bowling shoes you can wear your own trainers.. unless you want to wear bowling shoes. We had been allocated two lanes for the 7 of us. The screens are so easy to set up. There was now bowling balls on the lane already; we thought that it was broken. My husband went to seek help from a member of staff at the kiosk. A lady and another staff member could now work out what was wrong with the lanes and quickly moved us to another lane. It turns out that there was no problem with the lanes… We just needed to get the bowling balls of the shelves behind us .. oopsie!

We decided that we would go for food after our games had finished. You can have your meals brought down to your lane. The food was served within 5 minutes of placing the order. You just show your receipt. There is plenty of seating in the dining area, and they bring your food out to your table. The food was of better quality than we expected it would be. I would say it is on par with burger king. Drinks are quite expensive but still overall good value all-in, a pitcher of coke and two coffees cost  £13. The coffee was very disappointing, not very nice at all; Waitrose free coffee is much nicer.

Kids loved it and will definitely be visiting Tenpin at York again.

Katie-louise.com
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Aesthetic Contradiction

Great review with lots of info! I will definitely revisit this if I’m thinking of booking.

Juli
6 years ago

I love bowling! I am sure this was such a fun activity.

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
6 years ago
Reply to  Juli

I honestly don’t know why we have never taken our girls before – Love it!

Monidipa
6 years ago

Bowling seems like a really good idea to go with kids, everyone loves Bowling. The place seems very nice and the staff sounds so supportive and helpful. Great post.

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
6 years ago
Reply to  Monidipa

Thank you Monidipa. It’s a fantastic place. We will be regular visitors 🙂

Evelyn Hernandez
6 years ago

Funny thing, we just got home from our bowling too. We love to go bowling.

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
6 years ago

I hope your trip was just as fun!

siennylovesdrawing
6 years ago

Thanks for this lovely piece, really enjoyed it as am a bowling lover too. Learnt some of points shared here, nice family captures 🙂 Cheers, siennylovesdrawing

Maysz
Maysz
6 years ago

Nice family hangout! I love playing bowling and here in Philippines it’s already rainy season! Thanks for the great idea!

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
6 years ago
Reply to  Maysz

Thank you, it sure is. We’re looking forward to going again soon 🙂

Europe finance blog
6 years ago

Bowling is such a great sport. I hope you guys had lots of fun doing it.

Indu
6 years ago

Tenpin at York seems to be a fun place to visit as family as per your first hand experience which you enjoyed thoroughly with kids.

Chai
6 years ago

Oh wow! this is different indoor family activity. Bowling is fun and aside from quality time, it develop sportsmanship of each member of the family.

Jeferson
6 years ago

Family bonding over bowling is a great treat….. It’s good you didn’t experience what was on reviews….. Sometimes we really have different experiences….

Tracy @ Cleland Clan
Tracy @ Cleland Clan
6 years ago

I haven’t been bowling in years! Your experience makes me want to go again! Great review!

Nina Nichols
Nina Nichols
6 years ago

Though reviews are helpful, it’s better to really experience it in person sometimes. Service is quite subjective after all. Glad you had fun bowling. We love doing this as a family.:)

Harish Joshi
Harish Joshi
6 years ago

That’s an amazing hangout. Thanks for sharing a lot about it. ?

Arnab Majumdar
6 years ago

This is a lovely place to hang out with family. I love bowling, so does my whole family. Would be a great day out.

Neil Alvin Nicerio
Neil Alvin Nicerio
6 years ago

Nice. You guys look like you had a great time despite the weather. 🙂 It’s quite rainy here too. I wonder where we couldn’t go.

Grace Esedeke
6 years ago

Is good you decided to go check things out for yourselves.
Most times if I want something I just get it and experience it myself rather than rely on reviews which are very subjec subjective.
I love bowling. But I’ve never actually gone bowling before (I just watch videos of it and watch it on TV). I hope to someday.
I’m glad you all had a great time.

Sayanti
6 years ago

I too love bowling. Hope you had a wonderful time there.

Katie Campbell
6 years ago

Cute family and great idea

Monidipa
5 years ago

Bowling seems like a really good idea to go with kids, everyone loves Bowling. The place seems very nice and the staff sounds so supportive and helpful. Great post.

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
5 years ago
Reply to  Monidipa

Thank you Monidipa. It’s a fantastic place. We will be regular visitors 🙂

Maysz
Maysz
5 years ago

Nice family hangout! I love playing bowling and here in Philippines it’s already rainy season! Thanks for the great idea!

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
5 years ago
Reply to  Maysz

Thank you, it sure is. We’re looking forward to going again soon 🙂

Aesthetic Contradiction

Great review with lots of info! I will definitely revisit this if I’m thinking of booking.

siennylovesdrawing
5 years ago

Thanks for this lovely piece, really enjoyed it as am a bowling lover too. Learnt some of points shared here, nice family captures 🙂 Cheers, siennylovesdrawing

Evelyn Hernandez
5 years ago

Funny thing, we just got home from our bowling too. We love to go bowling.

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
5 years ago

I hope your trip was just as fun!

Juli
5 years ago

I love bowling! I am sure this was such a fun activity.

Katie-Lou
Katie-Lou
5 years ago
Reply to  Juli

I honestly don’t know why we have never taken our girls before – Love it!

Tracy @ Cleland Clan
Tracy @ Cleland Clan
5 years ago

I haven’t been bowling in years! Your experience makes me want to go again! Great review!

Europe finance blog
Europe finance blog
5 years ago

Bowling is such a great sport. I hope you guys had lots of fun doing it.

Chai
5 years ago

Oh wow! this is different indoor family activity. Bowling is fun and aside from quality time, it develop sportsmanship of each member of the family.

Arnab Majumdar
6 years ago

This is a lovely place to hang out with family. I love bowling, so does my whole family. Would be a great day out.

Katie Campbell
5 years ago

Cute family and great idea

Sayanti
5 years ago

I too love bowling. Hope you had a wonderful time there.

Neil Alvin Nicerio
Neil Alvin Nicerio
5 years ago

Nice. You guys look like you had a great time despite the weather. 🙂 It’s quite rainy here too. I wonder where we couldn’t go.

Jeferson
5 years ago

Family bonding over bowling is a great treat….. It’s good you didn’t experience what was on reviews….. Sometimes we really have different experiences….

Indu
5 years ago

Tenpin at York seems to be a fun place to visit as family as per your first hand experience which you enjoyed thoroughly with kids.

Harish Joshi
Harish Joshi
5 years ago

That’s an amazing hangout. Thanks for sharing a lot about it. ?

Nina Nichols
Nina Nichols
5 years ago

Though reviews are helpful, it’s better to really experience it in person sometimes. Service is quite subjective after all. Glad you had fun bowling. We love doing this as a family.:)

Grace Esedeke
5 years ago

Is good you decided to go check things out for yourselves.
Most times if I want something I just get it and experience it myself rather than rely on reviews which are very subjec subjective.
I love bowling. But I’ve never actually gone bowling before (I just watch videos of it and watch it on TV). I hope to someday.
I’m glad you all had a great time.

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