Holy Whale Brewing Company Buys Riverview Bowling Alley
MONCTON– The Holy Whale Brewing Company has found a new home once the Chocolate River Station closes.
Co-Owner Jeff Grandy says they have purchased Parklane Bowling Centre on Biggs Drive in Riverview.
“We currently have a brewery in Alma, that is pretty tourism focused, despite being open year-round. We needed to look beyond the summer months to keep things kind of normal,” he said. “We had some help from Shane Thomson from the Town of Riverview. He pointed us to Parklane which came up for sale in the fall of 2020. We did some asking around. A lot of people had positive things to say about the space and the owners and that is when we started talking seriously and started the whole process.”
Grandy says their current lease expires at the end of the month.
“We should know more in the next week or two what is actually going to happen, with regards to moving,” he said.
The Parklane Bowling Centre has provided entertainment since the 1960s. Kelly Stoyles married into the family that owned the Centre. They took over Parklane in the 1980’s. She says the pandemic took its toll, financially and they thought this was just the right time to sell.
“When we closed last March, we assumed like the rest of the world that this would just be a temporary closure,” she said. “Coming up to September, when our league would normally start in full, my husband Todd came to me at the last minute, I think this is the time, if we want to put it on the market, this would be a good time.”
Stoyles says she is excited for the Holy Whale Brewing Company, who will not be shutting down the lanes.
“I think the new owners are going to have a great success and I am very excited for them. It would have been a lot of work. We would have had to hire extra staff, and we would have only been able to open at half capacity, which was not feasible for us,” Stoyles says.
Grandy says once they move, they won’t reopen the Centre right away. They want to do some rebranding with more of a beer/bowling focus.
“Right now, our intention is to keep it as a bowling alley. That’s an area that we have to learn and we are definitely going to work with the previous owners on learning the ropes and trying to get the hang of it,” said Grandy. “We’re hoping by mid-summer to get ready for the big bowling season, which we are learning is September, that is our goal right now. Hopefully, by that time, things are more promising as far as movement of people and less COVID-19 restrictions. But we’re prepared for that, or if something does go sideways, we’re going to be prepared for that too.”
He says they will be making some changes, but mainly just aesthetics.
“Right now, where we are located, we do a test batch system. We are contemplating whether to move that over and do our test batches there,” said Grandy. “It is going to be pretty much a similar layout. people won’t notice there is a test batch system set up. No big shiny tanks and all that stuff, but beer will be available. The more and more I look into it, I think it is the perfect drinking sport, and beer is the natural drink to have.”
The Chocolate River Station on Coverdale Road, where the Holy Whale Brewing Company is currently located, is expected to be torn down to make way for two twin apartment buildings.
Tara Clow is the news director with 91.9 The Bend in Moncton, a Huddle content partner.