{"id":111775,"date":"2026-02-23T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/?p=111775"},"modified":"2026-02-18T22:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:51:00","slug":"spruced-up-entertainment-centre-will-bowl-you-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/spruced-up-entertainment-centre-will-bowl-you-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Spruced up entertainment centre will bowl you over"},"content":{"rendered":"

IF you haven’t been to the Bendigo Bowl recently, you’re in for a real surprise!<\/p>\n

The faded 1960s decor, garish fluoro lights and pokey games room have been replaced with new flooring, a crisp paint job, new furniture and a much bigger space for the most up-to-date arcade games you’ll find anywhere in Victoria.<\/p>\n

All in all it’s strikingly obvious that after taking over the venue in May last year, Steve and Karlie Cooper, along with their kids Tara and Jake, have made use of every spare moment available on the revamp.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The revitalised venue as a whole rivals anything any capital city can offer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr Cooper said when his family were first handed the reins, the venue was still getting plenty of people through the door, “but the actual building itself needed a freshen up”.<\/p>\n

“We had a good idea of what we wanted to do – to modernise it and give it a new lease of life,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said despite the amount of work completed, the alley has barely closed, with a lot being achieved during the wee hours of the morning.<\/p>\n

“Karlie and I would be here all night – we’d close at 10pm, clean up, work right through until 5 or 6am, then sleep for a few hours and come back,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The new games arcade, which replaces the old cafe, is out of this world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I always say we’re like a cruise ship.<\/p>\n

“It was going full steam ahead in one direction, then we bought it, and we’ve been slowly turning the wheel ever since.<\/p>\n

“It takes a long time for a ship to change direction – we’ve done that and now we’re going to start cranking up the speed.”<\/p>\n

Bendigo Bowl, located at 159 Hargreaves Street, is open every day of the week from 10am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IF you haven’t been to the Bendigo Bowl recently, you’re in for a real surprise! The faded 1960s decor, garish fluoro lights and pokey games room have been replaced with new flooring, a crisp paint job, new furniture and a much bigger space for the most up-to-date arcade games you’ll find anywhere in Victoria. All […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":111786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-111775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpruced up entertainment centre will bowl you over - Bendigo Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"See the new Bendigo Bowl! 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