DUBLIN CITY CENTRE is getting a new bowling alley, after planning permission for the development was granted by Dublin City Council.

According to planning documents submitted by developer Hines, the development will house eight bowling lanes, as well as a bar and an arcade area with games like darts, shuffle board and beer pong. 

The leisure complex will be located in the basement of the Chatham and King building off Grafton Street. The five-storey building currently houses retailers Zara and H&M. 

It will also be located to the rear of the Gaiety Theatre. While the theatre is a protected structure, the planning application states that the bowling alley will be “acceptable in terms of impact on architectural and cultural heritage of the area”, providing a “vibrant form of street frontage”. 

A Dublin City Council planner’s report on the application states that the complex is in line with the zoning rules for that part of the city, which aim to “to sustain life within the centre of the city through intensive mixed-use development”.

A map showing where the leisure complex will be located. Dublin City Council Dublin City Council

It states that the development “provides a variety of uses vertically throughout the building such as retail, offices and residential”, which contributes to “the vibrancy of the city centre”. 

“Entertainment uses that contribute to the vitality of the city are welcome,” the report states, concluding that “the principal of the use is considered acceptable.”

However, the report did raise concerns about noise levels, stating that bowling alleys “can give rise to high levels of operational noise particularly when noise is transmitted via the structure”. 

An external noise assessment report was carried out, which tested the impact of the bowling balls being dropped, concluding that mitigation measures would be needed to reduce any structural noise transmission.

Dublin City Council stated that these measures should be “implemented fully”, and recommended that “further acoustic testing should take place to review the effectiveness of the noise mitigations measure” before work begins on the development. 

The council also stated that the original submission from Hines did not include operating hours for the complex and recommended that “the hours of operation are agreed through compliance with the planning authority”.