Preliminary plans are coming together for The Alley Greenville, a music, bowling and entertainment venue slated for the former Handlebar property on Stone Avenue.
But the new owners want to be clear: It will be much different from the Handlebar – which had gotten a bad rap from nearby residents with parking issues, loud music and tales of drunken patrons.
“We definitely want to disassociate ourselves with that,” said one of the new owners, who asked not to be named. The Alley Greenville will be a family-friendly venue for all ages with a myriad of games such as arcade games, ping pong, foosball and shuffleboard. The boutique bowling alley will have eight lanes. There will be a party and event space and a menu that includes appetizers, salads, sandwiches and burgers.
The new venue will have live music with a variety of music genres a few nights a week, but will stop by midnight and will have appropriate audio and visual equipment to ensure sound quality.
The new owners are also in the process of addressing parking. They have secured nearby property to accommodate more parking spaces, which will be shared with Universal Joint, and plan to offer valet parking. But the owners would rather customers not drive and embrace the walkable city that Greenville is becoming. There will be bike racks on site, and the owners are working with the city to possibly extend the trolley route to have a dedicated stop at their location.
The new owners said that everything is still in the very early planning stages and they are “crafting our concept based on what we’re hearing from the city and the neighborhoods.” The Alley is based on the popular Alley in Charleston.
Neighborhood meetings were held this week and an application has been filed with the city’s zoning appeal board to allow the business to stay open until 2 a.m. That appeal will be heard at the Nov. 20 meeting.
