Thu 1st May 2025 - Exclusive: The Light acquires All Star Lanes Exclusive – The Light acquires All Star Lanes: Cinema and entertainment operator The Light has acquired boutique bowling alley operator All Star Lanes, with plans to re-energise and grow the business, Propel has learned. Propel revealed in February that the two businesses were “exploring options” of how they can “work together productively”, with James Morris becoming chief executive of both businesses. The Light was acquired by serial sector investor Luke Johnson and Risk Capital Partners, along with a co-investment from cinema and leisure investors Melcorpo, for an undisclosed sum last October. Risk Capital Partners had backed All Star Lanes since September 2019, when the investment firm acquired the then five-strong business via a pre-pack administration, in a £2.325m deal. All Star Lanes currently operates four sites in London – in Brick Lane, Holborn, Westfield Stratford and Westfield White City. Morris said: “All Star Lanes was always on our radar to give us a leisure-only vehicle. Each of the three elements of the business – cinema, cinema and leisure and All Star Lanes – has got its own very clear delineation and strategic focus. All Star is one of those businesses with a huge reputation and awareness, and is an exciting business, but one that perhaps didn’t evolve. The B2B side of the business remains very strong, but the B2C one is facing more competition, particularly from a number of the multi-leisure operators that have come to London over the past few years. There’s a plan now with that business to re-energise it and bring back its consumer relevance, which it slightly lost along the way. It’s taking some of the expertise that we’ve got around that multi-leisure concept and bringing it to the All Star brand. It was a pioneer brand, and a lot of people have a real affinity for it, so to have the opportunity to bring new life to the brand is really nice, and we’ve certainly got ambitions to see it grow. We’d like to see it standing proud again. We’ve got heads of terms on a new site for the brand, and I hope we’ll be in a position to announce that shortly.” It comes as The Light reported revenue of £41m for the year to 1 August 2024 (2023: £33.1m, with an Ebitda of £3.3m (2023: £1m). Morris said the business is heading towards an Ebitda of £4.5m in its current financial year. The business said: “The recapitalisation of the balance sheet and confidence in the model also enables us to complete a deal with Barclays to provide a new £7.5m growth facility to support the expansion of the brand.” It expects to have a further £10m of capital to deploy this financial year. The company said: “This gives the business a wide range of strategic options and we continue to look at diversification beyond cinema to manage risks and deliver shareholder value. One of the main sources of challenge in the business is the stagnation in the performance of the cinema only business. Without the ongoing support of landlords, it is possible that we will need to restructure this business, and we have already planned for this contingency, and we expect to need to resolve this by March 2026. That said, we expect the business to grow consistently over the next few years.” Earlier this month, the business opened what it described as its “most ambitious project to date”. The company launched a cinema and entertainment venue in Huddersfield’s redeveloped Kingsgate shopping centre. The venue, covering 70,000 square feet and set over three floors, offers 15 different leisure activities, a premium arcade and a six-screen cinema alongside a kitchen and bar. The Light operates 13 other sites across the UK. The Light Cinemas features in the Premium Club Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which features 978 companies. Its turnover of £41m for the year to 1 August 2024 is the 287th highest in the database. The Blue Book ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors’ earnings for the past five years. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.