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Easter Ross club stalwart voices fears for future if Rollerbowl squeezed out by competitor amid job loss fears for Highlands





Alness-based Serhat Yavuz, coach, and Jonathan Bircumshaw, Rollerbowl Youth Bowling Club chairman, say the Inverness business has been hugely supportive down the years and helped bring through numerous talented youngsters. Picture: James Mackenzie.
Alness-based Serhat Yavuz, coach, and Jonathan Bircumshaw, Rollerbowl Youth Bowling Club chairman, say the Inverness business has been hugely supportive down the years and helped bring through numerous talented youngsters. Picture: James Mackenzie.

TALENTED young Ross-shire bowlers and people with additional needs could be amongst those losing out if a long-established Highland ten-pin bowling alley is forced out of business.

Fears have been mounting from a number of sides over plans for a new bowling alley and inflatable activity course at the site of Sports Direct and the Everlast gym at Inverness Retail Park.

While the prospect has been welcomed by some as bringing new facilities to the region, the proposal has met with a torrent of objections from existing members and staff at the gym and left store employees facing an uncertain future.

There's also concern that what's planned replicates already available activities and as a result threatens jobs in a sector that is still finding its feet after two Covid lockdowns.

If the proposals get the green light from Highland Council, the new bowling alley and inflatable course will also house a bar, diner and amusements.

Planning documents from Hercules Unit Trust state: "The 10-pin bowling centre is expected to employ 40 people (around 30 full-time/10 part-time jobs) and the inflatable activity centre is expected to provide 20 full-time jobs."

Members of a number of ten-pin bowling leagues currently hosted at Rollerbowl on Culduthel Road are also anxious about what the future might hold.

The Rollerbowl Youth Bowling Club consists of young people aged from six to 17, a number of whom are from Ross-shire and have progressed to compete for Scotland.

Alness-based Carrie Yavuz helps run the club. Her son Kerim (14) and another Easter Ross bowler, Alice Robertson (11), are amongst club members who bowl for Scotland thanks to their training at Rollerbowl.

Rollerbowl hosts a thriving Youth Bowling Club which is giving the business its full support. Picture: James Mackenzie.
Rollerbowl hosts a thriving Youth Bowling Club which is giving the business its full support. Picture: James Mackenzie.

She said: "We make the club as inclusive as possible. Some have additional support needs and others come from a variety of different backgrounds. It's a sport which is very inclusive in that you don't need to be able to run around.

"Some of the kids are very competitive and for others it's just fun and a way to socialise and see each other. It's a valuable thing either way. There are three teenagers who are currently training to become coaches meaning that they can pass skills on to other kids."

Addressing the current planning application, she said: "Our worry is that if a bigger company comes in to Inverness the smaller one will not be able to continue. And the larger one may not be as supportive of groups such as ours and people with additional needs.

"Shahid (Yusaf, Rollerbowl owner) has been very good about supporting this club. It's quite an expensive sport to follow if you are competing and he is good about letting us set up a table to fundraise and sell tickets."

She went on: "We have got a history of kids coming to Rollerbowl and going on to do well. Kids are coming home with trophies. If Rollerbowl can't continue and we lose our youth group it would be a real shame. It's also a brilliant way for kids to widen their social circles."

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Asked about the proposal, Mr Yusaf said it wasn't as simple as welcoming competition in the marketplace.

He believes the Highland capital could lose up to 40 jobs in the event of a new bowling alley being created as part of the multimillion-pound development at the edge-of-town Inverness shopping centre.

As well as being a firm favourite down the years for birthday parties and nights out, the 24-lane facility has also been the training ground for a number of bowlers who currently represent their country.

Mr Yusaf said: "They say the new development will create 60 new jobs but they don't say how many would be lost as a result. There are no extra jobs being created here and in my view there would be a net loss.

"The size of Inverness cannot sustain two bowling centres so all that will happen is that one will be squeezed out."

He believes not only his business but existing soft play areas and a trampoline park would also be in jeopardy.

Shahid Yusaf, Rollerbowl owner, with staff. Picture: James Mackenzie.
Shahid Yusaf, Rollerbowl owner, with staff. Picture: James Mackenzie.

He said the bowling centre that he has run in Inverness for the last 34 years is adequate to cater for the whole of the Highlands and is visited by customers from as far afield as Caithness and the Western Isles.

He said the same pattern can be observed in other cities also only able to sustain one such centre.

Recalling the demise of La Scala Cinema in the centre of Inverness in the wake of the arrival of an edge-of-town multiplex, he predicted a similar pattern for local independent businesses faced with the arrival of one operated by a chain boasting significant resources.

Asked if it would only be a matter of time until he faced closure under such circumstances, he admitted it would.

Rollerbowl employs around 30 staff – six of whom have been with Mr Yusaf "since day 1" in 1990.

Mr Yusaf said: "Inverness cannot sustain two bowling centres. We are lying empty at times during the week with most of the business at the weekend.

"I believe the trampoline place and the soft play areas would also be affected. There could be 100 jobs lost making a net loss of employment. Those are local jobs for people who spend money in the local economy."

He said many businesses, including his own, had faced tough challenges during the two Covid lockdowns. Rollerbowl was closed for almost a year in total as a result yet managed to invest £350,000 in improving the business.

Mr Shahid said: "We are part of the community. We host different leagues and people who have additional needs. Generations of families come here. I know of some who are taking their children and their children's children.

"It's a family run business and I have to say people have been very supportive to us. Most people who have commented on this situation agree that the area can only sustain one such centre."

A petition flagging up the situation quickly gained 500 signatures and Mr Yusaf is "positive" that people power can influence the outcome.


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