Shares are bowled over by plans to reopen

BOWLING alley and casino companies saw their shares surge after the Government said they could reopen their doors today for the first time in almost five months.

They were originally meant to restart trading on August 1 - but this was delayed at the 11th hour because of a spike in coronavirus cases the day before. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Thursday night he would not push back the reopening.

Hollywood Bowl chief executive Stephen Burns said: ‘It’s a great relief to finally have clarity on when we can reopen after such unexpected and long delays.

‘We’ve been ready to reopen in the fully Government-approved Covid-secure way for many weeks and our trained teams are eager to get back to work. Our centres are spacious and well-suited for social distancing, and we’ve put in place wide-ranging hygiene and sanitation measures.’

Bowling groups are expected to scrap the need to wear bowling shoes, provide customers with gloves and close every other lane.

Anna Barnfather, an analyst at Liberum, said the large indoor spaces of bowling alleys led themselves well to social distancing.

Skating rinks and indoor play areas for children are also on the list of leisure businesses that can reopen from today – while other restrictions will be unwound to allow wedding receptions in the form of a sitdown for up to 30 guests and indoor theatres with socially distanced audiences.

Shares in Hollywood Bowl rose by as much as 16.1pc as investors took heart from the news, while Ten Entertainment rose 2pc.

And shares in Grosvenor Casinoowner Rank Group rallied by 10pc in early trading, closing at 1.2pc up at the end of trading.