Plans have been revealed to create a gaming hall and bar in a well-known York city centre building.
Roxy Leisure has applied for an alcohol licence for the new venue planned for the market hall in Stonebow House.
A planning application is to follow for the venue, to be called Roxy Ball Room York.
Described as a ‘party venue’, Roxy Ball Rooms feature a selection of indoor games. At other venues in the group, such as the one on Boar Lane in Leeds, the games includes pool, beer pong, mini golf, table tennis, shuffleboard and darts.
The news comes two years after Roxy Leisure sought to open a bowling alley with a bar in the former TopShop store in the Coppergate Centre.
At the time, a spokesperson for the group said that location wasn’t suitable for a Roxy Ball Room, which was more of a party venue. The Roxy Lanes bowling alley was granted an alcohol licence in October 2021 but never progressed.
The planned Roxy Ball Room York on Stonebow would be the 20th such venue in the chain.
Roxy Leisure’s commercial manager, Joel Mitchell, said: “York is a vibrant city, with a diverse range of hospitality and leisure businesses.
“The licensing application is the final step for us to hopefully open a gaming hall for the city and bring our unique range of competitive socialising games.”
The Roxy Leisure concept has proved “extremely popular in nearby areas such as Leeds and Sheffield”, said a spokesperson.
Those cities “have experienced first-hand how their competitive gaming concept is able to support and benefit the local area and hospitality scene.
“Roxy Ball Room York will feature a vast array of indoor competitive socialising activities for guests to enjoy alongside a premium drinks and food offering.”
According to the licensing application Roxy Ball Room York would open from 10am to 11pm Monday to Wednesday, from 10am to midnight Thursday to Saturday, and till 10.30pm on Sunday.
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After Stonebow House was refurbished, the ground floor market hall was originally planned to be an indoor food and drink venue with several bars and restaurants.
Its licensing application ran into strong opposition from both North Yorkshire and the elderly residents of Lady Hewley Cottages nearby.
Later, the company behind that plan withdrew it to concentrate on its business in the south of England.
Since then, the Co-op has opened at one end of the ground floor of Stonebow House. But a large area of the ground floor is vacant. And the Supersonic Fitness gym and café closed earlier this year.
Founded in 2013 by Leeds-based Matt and Ben Jones, Roxy Leisure secured £7.5m worth of investment to fund its expansion plans from private equity firm Foresight Group in 2020.
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