LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A historic Butchertown venue is back in business.
Vernon Lanes closed in 2015, but was recently bought and renovated. It's been reopened to the public for few weeks now.
“People are so excited to come in here and check it out," said General Manager Bruce Jarrett. “It’s almost too nice to be a bowling alley, at some point, when you look around. Really, it’s beautiful."
For people like Jarrett, who know what Vernon Lanes looked like before, the change is phenomenal.
“It’s beautiful, I think that it looks really great," said Julie Magee.
Magee works with School of Rock, and they took a group of students to the bowling alley for some team building.
"I think it's great, because it gives people an opportunity to go do something that otherwise you'd have to go to the east end to go – which is bowl," said Magee.
Enough retro flair was maintained that even those new to the iconic venue can get a sense of its more than a century-old history.
“You can tell like those benches and everything are like probably from the original, but then also we looked at pictures seeing like, I think they they got rid of the drop ceiling and this is really cool," said Annaliese Kerman, celebrating her birthday at Vernon Lanes. "So, I think it's a really great mix of like, retro but, updated and modern and fun.”
Along with bowling, Vernon Lanes offers a full menu with dining space and a bar on the main floor.
Downstairs, a huge space acts as a music venue and, eventually, Jarrett says they plan to make it a full-service restaurant. They also plan to start offering coffee in partnership with Sunergos Coffee.
He said they're already benefitting from Butchertown's recent growth, saying one of the best business days they've had so far was during the last Louisville FC home game.
"We had a good party before, sort of an indoor tailgate because it was cold outside, we'll do that as well as we go forward, and then we had a bunch of people come back afterwards after the game and just hang out here," Jarrett said. "They came to bowl. Some people went downstairs, we had a DJ."
It's been a strong start to a long-awaited revival.
“So many folks in the Butchertown are excited to have us here and have this place open again, because it was just sort of like you drove by going 'Oh, man,' it was ‘Why is that place closed? It was so great.' So it's really been exciting to bring it back to life for sure," said Jarrett.
For the latest information on Vernon Lanes' hours and special events, visit its Facebook page.
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