King Pins opens at former Talk Nightclub in Southend

King Pins has officially opened its doors at the site of the former Talk Nightclub in Lucy Road.

The venue offers ten bowling lanes, darts, big screens for live sport and eating areas for families.

Drinks - The bar area of the venue

Kessirose Larnder-Smith, 37, general manager of King Pins, says the response in the community has been really positive to far.

She said: “We have interactive bowling and darts with projectors displaying designs and different things onto the play areas and both have booth seating.

“We also have lots of other games such as duck pin lanes, which is like smaller bowling and is great for the kids.

Bowling - The lanes at the venue

“We have four big screens and BT and Sky Sports. There’s also air hockey, a pin ball machine and we also offer food with pizza, burgers and more.

“It’s really beautiful inside and has been refurbished to the highest standard, the whole project cost us about £1.6million.”

Miss Larnder-Smith says the bowling lanes have almost been full each night since the venue opened last week, with guests complementing the transformation

The former nightclub had gone through several different identities during its tenure, having first opened in 1973.

It closed on New Years Eve in 2019.

Game - A workers playing darts

Miss Larnder-Smith added: “The venue has seating for about 20 people for the food and we’ve created about 25 new jobs for the town.

“It’s important for the public to be able to go somewhere affordable and enjoyable with good quality food and good prices too.

“Our concession prices are also for carers, NHS workers and emergency services workers such as police and ambulance staff.

“It caters for everyone and is good for dates, families, work events and we’ve even had people come in alone who want to bowl.”

Refurb - the bar and seating areas