Bowling is coming back to the UARK Bowl, just on a smaller scale this time around.
Owners of The Leroy Pinhouse and Sporting Lounge are set to soon open the new business inside the building, which will include four regulation-length duckpin bowling lanes.
According to DuckPinBowl.com, the sport dates back to the 1890s and features smaller lanes and balls that are about the size of a softball. Players can play in their regular shoes, and bowlers get three throws per frame while aiming at pins on strings that are arranged in the traditional triangular pattern. The scoring is similar to traditional bowling, with a max score of 300 for a perfect game of 12 strikes in a row.
The return of bowling to the UARK Bowl, located at 644 W. Dickson St., is a bit of a full-circle moment for the building. According to FayettevilleHistory.com, the building was built in 1947 by entrepreneur W.F. Sonneman as the city’s first bowling alley.
In addition to the duckpin bowling lanes, the Leroy will also include the city’s first Full Swing sports simulators. The simulators were created for golf, but also offer other games like shooting, hockey, soccer, and more.
The bar will also include large screens for watching sports, a competition dart arena, two A/V lounges with 138-inch HD televisions and other video game stations.
Chef Rob Nelson of the Bentonville restaurant Tusk & Trotter is collaborating on the menu for the restaurant portion of the business. The menu will be “small, but unique,” the owners said.
The Leroy is a project by partners Ted Belden and Todd Ross. The concept is based around a fictional “third partner” in the business named Leroy, who is described as a world traveler and “the person the Most Interesting Man in the World was patterned after.” The bar’s decor will feature objects and artifacts from the character’s imagined travels.
“Leroy’s adventures and travels played a big part in the character and attitude of this place,” Belden said in a press release. “Our guests are going to feel that the moment they step inside,”
The building has received an extensive remodel, with the new interior described as “neo-industrial with a nod to old Vegas,” the owners said.
If all goes well, The Leroy Pinhouse and Sporting Lounge will open sometime later this month.
