Construction work on a new eight-lane ten-pin bowling alley at Wentworth Leisure Centre in Hexham, Northumberland, is due to get underway on 6 September.

North Country Leisure (NCL) has finalised contracts with project manager Createability and Qubica AMF, which has been chosen to install the lanes and bowling equipment as part of the Wentworth Bowl scheme. Work will include the creation of a new café area to serve the new bowling facility and Jungle Jack's Adventure Soft Play Area, which will also benefit from a refurbishment and extension programme.

Wentworth Bowl will offer coaching sessions for new starters, league play for new bowlers and reserved lanes at different times of the day for users older than 50, after-school players and special events. NCL director of operations Darren Lamb said: "This is not going to be your typical loud, noisy, 'Americanized' style of bowling which we know some local people have been concerned about.

"We have worked hard with architects and interior designers to create the practical, stylish look and feel we want to achieve and the final designs lay testament to that." Construction work is expected to take four months to complete.