Where to bowl in London, Ontario in 2026: Fleetway, both Palasads, and five-pin Fairmont Lanes — lanes, hours, and what each does best, all verified.
Bowling survived streaming, survived the pandemic (mostly — see below), and survived every think-piece about the death of league night. London’s lanes are busier than the obituaries predicted, and the survivors have spent the years since adding attractions rather than subtracting lanes. Here’s the current state of the city’s bowling, all verified June 2026.
Fleetway
Oxford & Proudfoot | 720 Proudfoot Lane
Sixty-plus years in (it opened in 1959 as a 24-lane five-pin house) and still the city’s family-entertainment flagship. The bowling core is unchanged, 44 lanes of ten- and five-pin with glow bowling — and the surrounding complex has only grown across its 58,000 square feet: the 18-hole glow-in-the-dark mini golf, the five-level kids’ play centre, a rock-climbing wall, the Playdium Lite arcade, a 14-table billiards room, and a food situation that now runs Pizza Projekt alongside the legacy Dairy Queen. The post-bowling Blizzard remains a multi-generational London ritual.
Open late on weekends, to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 p.m. most weeknights. The birthday-party logistics are the easiest in the city.
Palasad, both of them
Palasad SocialBowl: Old North | 777 Adelaide Street North Palasad South: Westmount | 141 Pine Valley Boulevard
Palasad’s 1994 idea — bowling, billiards, good food, and a real bar under one roof — turned out to be roughly twenty years ahead of the “eatertainment” trend, and more than 30 years on, both rooms are still proving it.
The north location, Palasad SocialBowl, leans into the night-out side: craft cocktails, local taps, a scratch kitchen with wood-fired pizza, and an active live-music calendar, plus bowling, billiards, ping pong, an arcade, karaoke, and free board games. It’s as much a venue as a bowling alley, closed Mondays, open to 11 p.m. most nights (noon opens on weekends).
Palasad South on Pine Valley keeps the full entertainment-centre format: bowling, billiards, laser tag, arcade, and the wood-oven kitchen whose pizza remains the franchise’s quiet superpower.
Fairmont Lanes
Fairmont | 972 Hamilton Road
London’s only dedicated five-pin house, nearly sixty years in, and still gloriously itself: twelve lanes, a liquor licence, a league community that fills the weekday calendar, and zero interest in becoming an entertainment complex. One operational note that genuinely matters: from May through August, Fairmont runs by reservation only, call or message ahead in summer rather than walking in. League season (fall through spring) is when the room is fully alive.
If you grew up on the small ball, this is the keeper of the flame.
Gone but not forgotten
Bowlerama Royale, the ten-pin classic at 2086 Dundas, didn’t survive the pandemic years. The building had a long recreational history, running from Brunswick Town Bowl in the early 1960s through roller-rink eras and later revivals under owners Mark and Brenda Decman, before COVID capacity limits did what decades of competition couldn’t. East London’s ten-pin crowd now drives to Fleetway or Palasad.
The quick reference
| You want | Go to |
|---|---|
| Family Saturday, all ages | Fleetway |
| Date night / group night with cocktails | Palasad SocialBowl |
| Big group, laser tag included | Palasad South |
| Five-pin, league culture | Fairmont Lanes (reserve in summer) |
Three institutions, four rooms, one casualty. The lanes held.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I go bowling in London, Ontario? Fleetway (720 Proudfoot Lane, 44 lanes), Palasad SocialBowl (777 Adelaide North), Palasad South (141 Pine Valley Boulevard), and Fairmont Lanes (972 Hamilton Road, five-pin). All confirmed open as of June 2026.
Is Bowlerama Royale in London still open? No, the ten-pin alley on Dundas Street closed during the pandemic years.
Where is five-pin bowling in London, Ontario? Fairmont Lanes at 972 Hamilton Road is London’s only dedicated five-pin house. Fleetway also offers five-pin alongside ten-pin. Note that Fairmont runs reservation-only from May through August.
Which bowling alley in London is best for kids? Fleetway — glow bowling, the five-level play centre, mini golf, rock wall, arcade, and Dairy Queen on site make it the birthday-party default.
Does Palasad have more than bowling? Yes — billiards, ping pong, and arcade games at both locations, plus karaoke and live music at SocialBowl (Adelaide) and laser tag at Palasad South (Pine Valley).
Can you drink while bowling in London, Ontario? All four venues are licensed; SocialBowl leans into it with craft cocktails and local beer.
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