Tenpin bowling arrived in Dundee 60 years ago with the opening of the Skyline Bowl in North Tay Street.
Dundonians were captivated.
The bright multi-lane alleys echoed to the crashing of pins.
It was the hottest place in Dundee in January 1965.
There were 26,000 balls rolled and 1,300 games played every day.
A cheer would greet the “Let’s roll” signal from the “control girls” at the “control tower” who wore costumes that were straight out of Star Trek.
Old jute mill became home of new alley
Skyline Bowl was constructed at the top of the former Calender Works.
A group of local businessmen were behind the venture, which cost £250,000.
Main contractor was James Dunn.
He was a joiner and shopfitter with offices in Broughty Ferry Road and King Street.
The ceiling was dropped and the floor raised to give a compact appearance.
A lift took people up to the 20 maple and pinewood lanes.
Each cost £6,000.
US-based Brunswick Bowling supplied the equipment, which included the £2,500 automatic pinsetters which swept away and reset the 15-inch pins.
Something to eat?
There was a restaurant serving everything from “a slice of toast to a full meal”.
Spectators could “sit there and watch in surroundings as pleasant as any in the city”.
Nessie Nicol headed up the staff of 12.
“Skyline will fill a big gap in Dundee’s restaurant needs,” she said.
“There is nowhere for folk to go after coming out of the cinema or a late show.
“We will serve anyone, not only bowlers.”
Robertson Fruit Products supplied the soft drinks.
These included Pola-Cola, which was the Dundee alternative to the “real thing”.
It was “oh so cool and refreshing”.
What time did Skyline Bowl open in 1960?
Skyline Bowl was open 10am to 1am Monday to Friday and 9am to midnight on Saturday with Sunday opening from 1pm to 11.30pm.
Price per game was three shillings for adults and two shillings for juveniles.
Bowling shoes could be hired for 6p.
The Courier gave a series of tips to beginners before the opening which covered everything from “grip and stance” to the “release and finishing position”.
There was even a “code of etiquette”.
Dundonians were urged to “cut out these articles and paste them in a book”.
Lord Provost Maurice McManus took the first shot at the opening ceremony.
He missed all the pins.
His second attempt was no better.
Then, prompted by the 400 guests, he had another go.
This time seven of the 10 pins toppled with a resounding crash.
“I hope that, even if many of the players don’t become expert, they will spend many happy hours here,” said Mr McManus.
They did.
Skyline opening made headlines in Dundee
Skyline Bowl opened with a competition with 19 “novice teams” taking part.
These included players from Dundee FC and Dundee United FC.
Smith Brothers department store won the competition.
Dundee woman Dorothy Birse – a member of the winning team – scored 135, which was the highest among the 57 players taking part.
Dorothy said she was “not really a novice”.
She had been practicing at the Granite Bowl in Aberdeen.
“First tenpin champion is a woman” screamed the headline in The Courier.
Dorothy would become a familiar face at the Skyline Bowl.
She was asked to give bowling instruction.
The following day brought huge queues to the bowling alley.
Men, women and children came out to have a go at the “city’s newest craze”.
Every lane was full.
The staff and instructors did a fine job helping novices find their feet.
The first day witnessed a wide variety of bowling styles.
Some even used a two-handed approach.
During the day the restaurant overlooking the lanes was also busy.
Many workers simply turned up on their lunch break to take a look at the bowlers.
Security guards would “keep troublemakers at bay and protect valuables”.
Bookings had to be made personally at the “control tower” where the “control girls” were resplendent in distinctive tunics with the Skyline badge.
At 9pm there was a two-hour queue to get on a lane.
It seemed everyone wanted to go bowling.
Skyline struggled to cope with the demand
Not everything went to plan.
The pinsetters were “new and temperamental”.
Chief mechanic Dave Beharrie encountered problems with people bowling before the full resetting cycle was complete, which caused a 20-minute delay.
Brian Callison was manager and director of Skyline Bowl Ltd.
He was born in Manchester and moved to Dundee in 1937.
“It’s been going like a bomb all day,” he said.
“Inquiries for the formation of leagues have been flooding in.
“Eventually we hope to stage tournaments with teams from other cities.”
All 10 weekday league spots were filled within the week by industrial teams including NCR, General Post Office, Bonar Long and Veeder-Root.
The first league pins were shattered by a team from Yorkshire Imperial Metals.
Results were published every week in The Courier.
Everything was rosy in the garden.
The business was turning over £100,000 a year.
Skyline Bowl started its own five-man team which almost became record-breakers.
They tried to beat the record number of pins knocked down in 12 hours.
They knocked over 19,341 in April 1966 which was 2,000 short of the record.
American billiards, electronic football and model car racing arrived.
Skyline Bowl closed in January 1968
“It really is all happening in 1967 at Skyline Bowl” was the tagline for the new year.
Some players who played in Dundee were the best in the country.
Anna Murray was the Skyline Bowl secretary.
She represented Scotland in an international tournament in May 1967.
It all seemed so promising.
Yet, barely a year later it was gone.
Numbers were dwindling rapidly.
It closed in January 1968 due to “lack of support and rising costs”.
Most staff managed to get a job elsewhere.
Manager and director Brian Callison found himself in the dole queue and tried to support a wife and two growing sons with no qualifications.
He was 34.
He decided to write a wartime sea novel.
It was something he’d had in mind since starting life in the Merchant Navy.
A Flock of Ships was published in 1970.
Alistair MacLean called it “the best war story I have ever read”.
It is now thought of as a classic.
He would go on to publish several more nautical thrillers.
Bowling Alley played host to big name acts
The building was transformed into the students’ union of the Technical College.
It kept its old tag, though, as Dundonians still generally referred to it as the Bowling Alley.
The DJ was Brian Wilson with his Deepwater Disco.
The Tech College students used to book bands to perform live, which included Chas and Dave, Dire Straits, Motorhead, Sex Pistols, Simple Minds and XTC.
Dundee was left without a bowling centre until August 1990.
The GX Superbowl on Longtown Road and Megabowl at the Stack Leisure Park arrived on the scene, although both have since closed their doors.
But tenpin bowling has enjoyed a renaissance in Dundee in recent years.
The opening of Tenpin at Kingsway Retail Park in August 2023 was followed by Hollywood Bowl at Douglasfield in May 2024.
So everything goes in cycles, and Dundonians are once again looking for a lane, determined to crack ’em in their search for a strike.
Conversation