The Royal Leamington Spa Bowling Club (the Club), otherwise known as the RLSBC, has had a club house of one form or another on the Archery Road site since 1913. The existing club house was rebuilt in 1995, ready for when Royal Leamington Spa hosted the Women’s World Bowls in 1996.
The centre portion, as shown in the above Club photo, was modelled on the previous club house and now contains the bar area and kitchen. The addition of a dining hall to the left and men’s and ladies’ changing rooms to the right completes the current facilities.
Originally, there was a single bowling green on the current site. A second green was added 10 years later, then a third, and finally, with the arrival of the EWBA National Championships, a fourth bowling green. In 1995, a fifth bowling green was added in readiness for the Women’s World Bowls tournament.
The Royal Leamington Spa Bowling Club is still the home of the Bowls England Ladies National Championships. It has also hosted a number of Bowls England Under 25 International matches and Bowls England Junior Ladies Trials. A number of institutions, such as the Civil Service, also host their national finals at the Club.
The Club runs a full season of men’s and ladies’ fixtures against the other local clubs, the men generally playing on Saturday afternoons, and the ladies generally mid-week. The Club enters four men’s teams in a local mid-week day-time league and a team in a mid-week evening league, with the ladies entering teams in two mid-week evening leagues. Tuesday evening is Club Night which takes the form of a mixed triples league, before everyone retires to the bar.
The winter months are taken up with a season of short mat bowls, RLSBC members meeting in the Club house on a couple of nights each week. The Club enters teams in a couple of local short mat bowling leagues, and also plays friendlies against other clubs.
During the year, the Royal Leamington Spa Bowling Club also organises a number of well-attended social events, such as quiz nights, 1960s evenings, race nights, etc. In late May, a coach load of RLSBC members depart for a week’s tour somewhere in England. The Club also organises a week’s tour to foreign climes.