All Star Lanes, Brick Lane
The Client
The biggest and best All Star Lanes – the UK’s original boutique bowling concept – opened recently in London’s East End.
Situated on 22,000 sq. ft of prime real estate at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, the third ASL, from co-founders Mark von Westenholz and Adam Breeden, has built on the same successful formula as its predecessors – including the multimedia infrastructure.
Mixing de-luxe bowling with the finest diner cuisine, cocktails, and high-octane music, the latest All Star Lanes embodies all the signature elements that were visible in the first two sites. In Brick Lane, there is a total of nine lanes (six on the ground floor, the remaining three forming a 1950s penthouse-style private lounge on the first floor) with a stylish drinking den that specialises in classic American cocktails, pitchers, and American beers and ales.
The classic interior concept was again devised by experienced architect/designer Dan Evans, who has introduced a 20ft long copper bar counter running the entire length of the lanes, providing views through to the psychedelically lit bowling area beyond. Also for the first time the bar and lanes share the same space, providing an opportunity to create a live music performance area.
System Solution
The public and private bowling lanes, cocktail bar, and authentic ‘50s-style, 200-cover diner/luncheonette are all served by audiovisual systems designed by the Sound Division Group. Their integrated system is based around a top industry spec, with Harman Pro brand premium sound reinforcement products.
In keeping with All Star Lanes’ evolutionary ethos the multimedia has developed alongside the general interior. The Sound Division Group has provided a full presentation rig for corporate use. And for the first time, the industry-spec DJ booth has also been made entirely portable. (The Sound Division Group have already installed a 24-way analogue multicore as part of a site-wide cable network in anticipation of the portable rig.)
Equipped with Technics SL-1210 turntables, Pioneer CDJ-1000 CD players, an Allen & Heath XONE:62 (for mixing the nightclub sound), and a Phonic compact mixer (for mixing live sound from the venue’s Shure mics), the plush leather-padded DJ rig can relocate to any of five different plug-in points within the building, and at each position there are also laptop plug-in points. DJs will also benefit from the JBL Eon 10 powered speakers, which provide reference sound.
From the laptop points, corporate presentations can be delivered – backed up by the Denon DVD players or high-powered Panasonic DLP projector (situated over the main lanes). These can be displayed either on the 11ft electric drop-down screen, the 50” NEC Panasonic plasma screen (in the 100-capacity first floor private room) or the 42” plasma screen in the cocktail bar.
As for sound control and reinforcement, the ability to adapt and scale the successful combination of JBL loudspeakers, Crown amplification and BSS Audio Soundweb DSP processing made the job simple for SDG, and working alongside an established contracting team, the fit-out task was straightforward. Says SDG’s David Graham, “Under the joint project management of Jon Carey and Dean Osbourne and their installation team, everything felt very comfortable, while the back-up we received from Harman Pro’s new distributors, Sound Technology was exceptional – the transition has been seamless.”
The venue is split into three primary zones – the restaurant, the main bowl and cocktail bar, and the private bowl – although this sub-divides into a total of 11 separate zones, including the service areas.
With JBL AE series subs – AL6115 in the Private Bowl and AL6125 in the main bowl – adding bass extension to the powerful JBL Control 30 and Control 29AV speakers, All Star Lanes is able to maintain a continuous music mix either from the Sonos hard disk music server to the DJs, and eventually the live performers.
The feature areas see Crown XTi4000 and XTi2000 amplifiers powering the main bowl system and XTi4000 and XTi1000 amplifiers running the six Control 29AV speakers (and AL6115 sub) in the private bowl. A further six Control 29AV speakers ensure the potency of the sound is maintained in the cocktail bar.
In the peripheral areas, SDG have turned to a variety of JBL Control 24C/24CT flush ceiling speakers along with 24AV speakers at the various entrances, reception areas and toilets, with Control 28 speakers and 26C ceiling speakers in the coffee shop, and 13 white Control 25AV speakers in the dining room. These are powered as appropriate by Crown XLS, CTs and XTi series amplifiers.
Aside from maintaining even sound dispersion, critical to the operation is an intuitive relay matrix, with which any source can be routed to any destination. To achieve this, SDG have designed a BSS Soundweb London network with ample DSP power. The main BLU-80 processor is configured for 16 outputs and the BLU-32 I/O expander for 16 inputs. BLU-8 programmable wall remotes are strategically set in the three main zones, while a pair of BLU-3 remote source select/volume rotary controls are used at the bowling and main reception areas.
The Result
“We are delighted with the impact of the new multimedia system and the ease with which it went in,” says Adam Breeden. “We now have an excellent design and contracting team which will lead us into the future.”
That future includes growth beyond the UK, with All Star Lanes Dublin slated for next year, followed by European target cities, such as Paris and Berlin.
All Star Lanes, Brick Lane
