Dog-Friendly Bowling Alley in White City: All Star Lanes

All Star Lanes White City charges £10 for an adult game all day Monday and Tuesday, two full days of off-peak pricing that the central London branches do not match. It sits at Westfield London Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, London W12 7FU, four minutes on foot from Wood Lane station. With eight retro lanes, two cocktail bars, an outdoor terrace and dogs allowed in certain areas, this is the bowling alley near me answer for west London groups who want room to spread out.

The venue describes itself as sitting just outside Westfield London rather than inside the shopping floors, and the layout feels that way. Alongside the eight lanes you get classic arcade games, private karaoke booths and the terrace. It is twice the lane count of the original Holborn branch, which opened in 2006, so walk-in luck is better here on a quiet afternoon than it is in Bloomsbury.

White City also has something no other All Star Lanes branch has. The Qbix GameCube is a 5D gaming room with wind blasts and motion floors, played with one handheld controller and no headsets. A session lasts 25 minutes and takes groups of two to six, which fits neatly into the gap while a bigger party finishes its game on the lanes.

Adult players are 13 and over and pay £10 per game off-peak and £14 at peak. Children aged 12 and under pay £9.50 either way. The White City calendar differs from Holborn and Brick Lane: off-peak covers all day Monday and Tuesday plus Wednesday to Friday until 4pm. Peak pricing starts at 4pm Wednesday to Friday and runs all weekend. Half terms, bank holidays, Easter, summer holidays and the festive period are all priced as peak.

Two-game bundles follow the same split. You pay £15 for two games all day Monday and Tuesday and until 4pm Wednesday to Friday, £22 all day Sunday, and £25 from 4pm Wednesday to Friday and all day Saturday. Karaoke booths cost £10 per hour off-peak and £12 per hour at peak, booked in one-hour sessions, so a two-game bowl plus an hour of singing on a Tuesday comes to about £25 a head before food.

This is one of only two All Star Lanes sites that admit dogs, the other being Brick Lane. The rules are clear: dogs stay on their leads at all times, there is a maximum of two dogs per lane, and owners are responsible for them. The terrace is the easiest place to settle a dog between turns. If your group includes a nervous animal, a weekday afternoon is calmer than a Saturday evening.

Families get an extra hour here compared with central London. Under-18s are allowed in until 8pm at White City, against 7pm at Holborn and Brick Lane, and they must be with an adult aged 18 or over. One lane holds a maximum of seven players, and the venue budgets ten minutes per person per game. Groups of ten or more can choose a party package instead of booking a table in the restaurant.

The kitchen serves the chain's American menu. Sharing platters for two to three people cost £25 and include the Classic, with buttermilk chicken tenders, grilled king prawns, a double pepperoni flatbread, guacamole and angry house fries. Tex-Mex nacho fries are £9.50, blackened salmon tacos are £17, and the BBQ chicken flatbread is £14. Skip the side salad at £5; the platters already cover the table and are easier to eat between frames.

White City pours Camden Hells and Camden Eazy IPA on draught at £7.20 a pint, with Budweiser at £6.50 and Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime at £7. Cocktails include the Hugo Spritz at £10.80 and the Long Island Iced Tea at £12.50, and the margarita list lets you pick a base from Olmeca Blanco at £12 up to Casamigos at £14.50. Bero Kingston Pils at 0.5% is £4.90 for drivers.

Booking a lane in advance carries a minimum spend of £7 per person on food or drink, while bowl-only slots open one day ahead. Arrive 15 minutes early, because the lane is held for only ten minutes. Deposits are non-refundable inside 72 hours, and groups of ten or more need 14 working days' notice to cancel. The venue is cashless, so bring a card or phone wallet, and expect ID checks from 6pm.

Running late is the most common way to lose a booking here, because Central line delays and Westfield car park queues both add minutes. If you miss the ten-minute hold, staff will try to fit you into a later game and move the deposit to it. If no lane is free, the deposit goes toward your restaurant bill instead of being refunded, so you still eat for the money you paid.

Students take 25% off bowling, food and drink as walk-ins on Sunday to Wednesday and Friday, and NHS and Blue Light Card holders pay £7 a game Sunday to Wednesday. Those offers plus the all-day Tuesday off-peak price make Tuesday the strongest value night. Friday after work is the opposite: peak pricing starts at 4pm and the mall crowds arrive, so if the wait passes 30 minutes, book a later lane online and eat first.

Television Centre on Wood Lane, the former BBC building with its curved glass front, is a five minute walk north and now holds flats, restaurants and the Soho House outpost. Shepherd's Bush Green sits at the south end of the mall, close to the Shepherd's Bush Empire music hall. If the lanes are full, the Westfield food court and its chain restaurants are inside the same complex, and you can be back for a later slot.

Address: Westfield London Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, London W12 7FU. Hours: Mon to Wed 12pm to 11pm, Thu and Fri 12pm to midnight, Sat 10am to midnight, Sun 10am to 11pm. Stations: Wood Lane on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines, four minutes; White City on the Central line, six minutes; Shepherd's Bush Overground, eleven minutes. Payment is card or phone only.