Print

Last-Minute Deal Likely For Highland Bowl

By BRIAN DOWLING

June 26, 2012

The on-again, off-again duckpin bowling alley in Hartford's West End might yet stay open.

Saturday morning, a West Hartford resident walked into Highland Bowl on Farmington Ave., with a check to keep the duckpin alley open. Rich Stratton offered to buy the alley from Owner Todd Turcotte, after reading an article in Saturday's Hartford Courant that annouced the dismantling of the bowling alley.

Stratton and his son, Tim, are duckpin bowling enthusiasts and would operate the alley as a joint venture. Rich Stratton is putting up the money for his son, who will take on operation of the alley.

Turcotte plans to educate the new owners on how to operate the duckpin equipment, Tim Stratton said.

"He's going to help me with how the machines work and all sorts of stuff. He's been doing it for years," he said. "I was talking with an attorney yesterday who said that I'm going to be learning years of business school in a week. I'm excited and a little overwhelmed."

Turcotte said that he has reached an agreement with Richard Stratton. The Strattons met Monday with the building's landlord, West Hartford-based M.J. Neiditz & Co., and said the lease terms look agreeable. Neiditz did not return calls seeking comment.

Highland Bowl opened in 1939 and has changed hands twice in recent years. Turcotte bought the lanes in 2006, formerly known as The Alley, from a neighborhood group that had saved it in 2000.

Earlier this month Turcotte, who operates a duckpin alley in Cheshire, said he was closing at the end of June. A West End resident tried to put together a deal to keep it open but that effort fell short.

For more photos from Hartford's West End, visit courant.com/bowling