Whatever Happened to Saturday Night?

Is bowling no longer in? Did we miss the ‘there’s definitely other things we can be doing besides bowling’ bus?

Seriously, does anyone actually bowl anymore and if they do, where? We checked and the bowling alley at Village Market isn’t there anymore. Most of the people here at UP don’t even remember the last time they bowled.

Maybe people are going through a phase where they’d rather be at happy hour than at some bowling alley…well…that’s not really a phase, everyone would rather be at happy hour. Nevertheless people used to find the time to go bowling every once in a while. The thing about bowling is that it’s a sport that transcends the ages. From 4 year olds to 50 year olds everyone can enjoy it.

Jessie, 23, says, “It’s just not something I think about anymore. If you’ve noticed Kenyans go out a lot these days, like for dinner or drinks but bowling isn’t thought of. I think there’s better stuff to do. Bowling isn’t that fun anymore. Unless maybe you go as a group and you’re hammered. Then maybe that’s fun.”

Is it just Nairobians who don’t bowl though?

Tamara Artenstein, who lives in Mombasa, says that she’s actually an avid bowler, “People in Mombasa still bowl. Maybe it’s because we don’t have as much to do. Mombasa doesn’t have as many social events as Nairobi, so the bowling alley is still quite a hang out spot.”

What Tamara said brings us to the question: did Nairobians drive away the bowling industry? Maybe the reason we don’t bowl is because there’s nowhere to bowl. Did we neglect that activity so much that it brought bowling alleys to close down?

London a few years ago was going through a similar bowling alley crisis. But then along came the hipsters and all of a sudden bowling alleys revamped, took on a vintage look (the irony doesn’t escape us), started making nice cocktails, generally got with the times and low and behold a new generation of bowlers took over.

Like with the rapid decline of cinemas in our beloved city, we cannot but help feel that people rapidly opt for closing down, instead of coming up with new, out of the box ideas for pulling in the crowds. Cinemas could serve drinks and dinner with the show, maybe they could even have a live band. Bowling alleys could have happy hours (out of this world, right?), lady’s nights promotions, a dancefloor, a DJ and a live band… the options are many but without a spot of imagination on the part of the owners and managers of these spaces, it doesn’t feel like they stand a chance.

Bowling alleys: we hope this is not a requiem for the demise of yet another glorious Nairobi institution. We promise that if you come back we will endeavour to spoil you once in a while, to wear our party frocks, rock your funny shoes and inject colour back into your premises.

Don’t go… you will be missed.