London’s 10 best experience bars: From time-travelling cocktails to prison break games
When a good drink isn't good enough, these bars mix things up with mad theming and crazy games to spice up your night out.
Sometimes a quiet pint in a cozy pub will hit the spot – but there are other occasions that call for something a bit different!
For years a plethora of experience bars has mushroomed across the capital. Some offer full immersion, transporting punters to another time or a fictional location, with actors adding to the theatricality. Then there are of course the city’s broad array of activity and game-based bars.
Here we're picking 10 of the best venues offering amazing experiences while you drink and eat – whether it’s donning a jump suit and sitting in a cell or taking on your friends for a round of crazy golf. If you’re organising a work social, a birthday gathering or you’re just wanting to change things up from sitting in the pub, this list has got you covered.
1. Cahoots Underground
One of a group of three 1940s themed bars, Cahoots Underground, as the name suggests, is housed in an abandoned tube station where you’ll find yourself sitting in a highly convincing replica of a 1940s underground train carriage. The bar offers up some mighty fine cocktails in this detailed, fun and unique setting. Why not combine it with its sister bar in the old ticket hall of the same station, which is accessed from Kingly Street, just around the corner? The group’s third location is Cahoots Postal Office in London Bridge, and is just as fun.
2. Alcotraz: Cell Block Two-One-Two
Alcotraz offers an utterly unique theatrical prison experience. Punters (or ‘inmates’ as you become on entering) are furnished with a fetching orange jump suit and locked in a cell. The aim is to smuggle a bottle of spirits in, which is then used to craft personalised cocktails by the corrupt prison guards/mixologists. Your booking lasts an hour and three quarters and every detail from the cells to the actions of the guards is on point. This is perfect for a special occasion, stag or hen do. It’s not cheap, costing £51 per person, but it’s an experience that will never be forgotten.
3. Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration
Part of a group of themed bars that draw inspiration from the classic Jules Verne novel Around The World In Eighty Days, this venue is bound to delight with its attention to detail, quirky artefacts and amazing cocktails. Visitors can marvel at the bar’s weird and wonderful mechanical cocktail maker, and there’s also a full-size Victorian train carriage, which plays host to tabletop murder mystery events.
4. Electric Shuffle
Housed in the red brick arches under London bridge station, this game-focussed venue offers shuffleboard, drinks, pizza and small plates. One of the many activity bars to open in recent years, it fills up with groups enjoying a classic pub game in a modern setting, with a decent selection of drinks. What’s not to love? There’s also a sister venue located at Canary Wharf.
5. 58th Street
Created by The Lost Estate experience company, 58th Street offers an immersive evening that takes punters to 1930s New York. Modelled on the venues of the jazz age, the creators have gone to huge lengths to get the details right, from the swinging jazz to the drinks on offer and the six course menu. Technically running for a limited time as a pop-up, it is scheduled to be part of the London scene until at least the end of 2027.
6. Swingers
As bars and venues offering activities seemed to be popping up everywhere in London, a game of crazy golf with colleagues or friends became an almost ubiquitous social activity. Swingers is one of the best to do it – offering a fun and well thought out course. The bar serves up a decent range of wine, beer and cocktails, while the food offering comes courtesy of street food vendors.
7. Four Quarters Arcade Bar — Peckham
Enjoy classic arcade games, while drinking craft beer at this laid-back Peckham based arcade bar. Perfect for those wanting to indulge in a bit of nostalgia, courtesy of the fantastic array of retro games on offer. The food offering is ‘American diner classics’, which fits perfectly with the vibe of the place. Sister sites can be found in Hackney Wick, London Bridge and Elephant and Castle.
8. Evans and Peel Detective Agency
Running since 2012, Evans and Peel Detective Agency is a 1920s prohibition themed speak-easy cocktail bar. Punters enter a “detective office”, where they must present a case to get access to the bar through a hidden bookcase. Known for its attention to detail, staff in character and fine drinks selection, visitors can also expect music from swing to blues on several nights per week.
9. Hexmoor Wizarding Prison
Created by Inventive Productions, Hexmoor Wizarding Prison requires punters to don jump suits and sit in cells. Lasting an hour and forty-five minutes, this deeply immersive experience involves live-action storytelling courtesy of the venue’s cast of actors, plus a range of “magical cocktails”. A good one for Harry Potter heads.
10. Flight Club
Part of a chain that has four venues in London and a number in other locations around the country, Flight Club offers social darts in a lively, booze-fuelled setting. Like the pubs of old then, before bars like this stole their thunder! The Victoria venue is one of their best, with its individually themed oches and fairground theme. The bar area is also beautifully designed and features a strong drinks list. Punters can expect a series of mini games using the dart board, rather than just the conventional game, though that's on offer, too.
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