Want to get out of the house with your mates/other half/work chums, but after something more thrilling than a pint of lager and a packet of crisps? Sounds like you need an activity bar — and from axe throwing to crazy golf to shuffleboard, London's got 'em in spades.
Here's the skinny on where to get active (and still have that pint while you're doing it).
Arcade games
While games consoles grow slicker by the second, enough Londoners carry a torch for the chunky machines of yore for there to be a healthy arcade scene. Boss level establishments include Four Quarters (Elephant and Castle, Peckham, London Bridge, Hackney Wick), where you literally fuel the games with American quarters; the neon-steeped NQ64 (Soho and Shoreditch) and the old skool Heart of Gaming in Croydon, where you can fill your gaming boots with a £20 day pass. Meanwhile, F1 Arcade (St Paul's) is high-octane experience with racing simulators built around a bar area in One New Change.
Check out our full roundup of where to play arcade games in London.
Axe throwing
A decade or so ago, if you'd have told your mates you were off axe throwing, they'd have put in a panicked call to the rozzers. But these days several venues have got in on the axe-ion, including the Axeperience in Fenchurch Street (where they've gone heavy on the glow in the dark paint), Game of Throwing in Hammersmith (see what they did there), and Boom Battle Bar on Oxford Street. Throwing a lethal weapon at a wooden target can take a few attempts at first, but once you get the knack, it's pretty addictive. Is that something to worry about?
Baseball cages
If hurling an axe about in a cage sounds positively Canadian (and it is), then swinging a baseball bat around in a cage is its classic, American cousin. From the people behind cricket venue Sixes (more of that later on), Moonshot in Shepherd's Bush invites you to swipe at a robotically bowled ball, and scoff hot dogs and New York style pizza.
Passyunk Avenue's Waterloo branch has batting cages too — complete with video game-style screens making you (sorta) feel like you're on the field. Just try not to get the honey mustard sauce from your chicken wings all over the handle.
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With nearly 200 venues on their list, EatClub has you covered for everything from after-work pub pitstops, through to decadent five-course tasting menus. The venues range from karaoke joints and shuffleboard bars, through to sushi counters, steakhouses, late-night cocktail spots and everything in between. So you can chart a path through your game night plans, from pre-drinks to dinner to facing off over the shuffleboard table, with up to 50% off every step of the way.
Drop into Lucky Voice near Liverpool Street to belt out your greatest hits in a private karaoke room, or take advantage of the weekend late licence at ZIMA in Soho, for when you want to be singing into the small hours. Or if you like your socialising to be of the fiercely competitive kind, book in for Players Social in Spitalfields, where they’re serving up shuffleboard, darts and foosball, with a side of cocktails and hot wings.
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Bingo
No longer is bingo the preserve of the blue rinse brigade; places phenomenons like Hijingo Bingo in Shoreditch have levelled up this humble game into an all-lasers-blazing extravaganza, fizzing with Tron-esque dancers, boozy brunches/top tier burgers galore, and robot number-callers. If such trippy episodes of pseudo-retirement sound like a bit of you, also acquaint yourself with the raucous Dabbers Bingo (Hackney, Aldgate), and the roving (and for that matter raving) Bongo's Bingo, which is often in town.
Board games
The least exerting of all bar activities (unless you're planning a 17-hour Catan sesh), board games lend themselves to mizzly Sunday afternoons, though that's not to say you can't crack open a mahjong board in the midst of a heatwave should it be your wont. Board game cafes are very much a thing in London these days, some of the best-known among them, Draughts (Stratford, Waterloo and Hackney — the latter deliciously placed in an old pie and mash shop), the Ludoquist in Croydon (which is never not busy) and the Arcanist's Tavern (Shoreditch), which is dolled up as a fantastical tavern.
Check out our full roundup of where to play board games in London.
Boules/petanque
"I must have some boules. I demand to have some boules!!" So shouted Withnail in the 1987 cult classic. Or perhaps it was booze. Not sure. Happily, Boulebar (South Bank, Spitalfields) offers both. The gentle French game traditionally played by rotund, flat-capped pépés, is reimagined for trendy London folk, abetted by a bar slinging peach-vermouth cocktails and simple French-inspired cuisine (fried artichoke, salade melon, goat cheese croquettes). And, oui, they have pastis too!
Bowling
If a speedier style of bowling is up your alley, the original competitive social experience is still going strong, with dozens — if not hundreds — of ten pin bowling venues across the capital. All Star Lanes (Brick Lane, Holborn, Stratford, White City) continues to lead the way at the more sophisticated end of the spectrum, with a cocktail bar, restaurant and other activities such as karaoke and shuffleboard. Lane 7 (Victoria, Camden) does something similar with a more clubby, neon vibe. The (in)famous Rowans in Finsbury Park has long been a favourite of north Londoners, with lanes that stay open until the early hours. QUEENS (Queensway) with its neon/Dazzle lanes has hosted a joyous Londonist party or two before now, while Bloomsbury Lanes is another venue that'll bowl you over.
Crazy/mini golf
This old seaside favourite first swung into London's bars over a decade ago — and there are now probably more crazy/mini golf course in London than there are fringing the coastline of the British Isles. Puttshack (Bank, White City) is one of the most established. Plonk (Hackney Central, Borough Market) is another stalwart of the scene. Swingers goes for a vintage look in its Oxford Circus venue. Junkyard Golf (Shoreditch) is the place for shabby chic putting, and on the same street as Flight Club (more of which later). Birdies (Angel, Battersea Power Station) fields holes with extravagant designs, and has a pop-up on Roof East in Stratford each summer. Any of the choices above are a hole-in-one.
Cricket
Don't worry if you've never wielded a cricket bat/listened to Test Match Special in your life. Sixes Social Cricket (Fitzrovia, London Bridge, Fulham, Shepherd's Bush, Stratford, Boxpark Wembley) has everything set up so that anyone can experience the thrill of thwacking a ball for six... well, a virtual six anyway — the venues aren't THAT big. The bat and ball are real, but you get a virtual bowler (including some of the game's most famous names). As with any good cricket game, there's a great spread of food to over-indulge on, whenever you decide it's time for a tea break.
Curling
The peculiar Scottish sport in which players slide stones across ice, which is then polished by frantic broom action, makes a pop-up appearance in London each winter, with lanes at The Curling Club (Waterloo and Vinegar Yard), and Big Penny Social (Walthamstow). Remember, these are bar versions of the Olympic sport, so the surfaces are plastic and the brooms are entirely absent. Still, it makes a nice change from the usual bowling alley outing.
Darts
One of the oldest forms of competitive socialising, darts was invented in London about a century ago. It was also reinvented in London in 2015 when the first branch of Flight Club opened in Shoreditch. These days, with shabby-chic-pub-styled outposts in Bloomsbury, Islington and Victoria, the chain offers various dart-based activities, which make the game throughly enjoyable, even for those who don't fully understand the rules of the traditional game (hiya!). The food and drink options at Flight Club are infinitely better than the pork scratchings you'll find down your traditional darts boozer too.
Football/foosball
Normally if you start a kickaround in a bar you'll be, well, barred. But TOCA Social at the O2 in North Greenwich actively encourages you to hoof a real ball as part of its interactive soccer-based games, including penalty shootouts. — back of the net! A second branch opens in White City in July 2025.
Less full-on football bar games can be found courtesy of your friend and mine, the foosball table. These crop up in a number of venues, although Shoreditch's Bar Kick is shoo-in (£10 an hour), as is Cafe Kick on Exmouth Market (£1 for 11 balls). TOCA has foosball tables, too, natch.
Karaoke
Looking to seal yourself in a room with friends/work colleagues and butcher belt out all-time anthems while draining an ice bucket of White Claw? Sounds like you need to find yourself a karaoke bar pronto. These days, London is channeling its inner Akihabara left, right and centre — with respected karaoke offerings including Lucky Voice (Soho, Liverpool Street, Holborn, Islington, Waterloo), Moyagi, (Oxford Circus) and Zima Bar & Karaoke (Soho).
Check out our full roundup of where to do karaoke in London.
Monopoly
The hoary family game has had a glow-up/grow-up to become Monopoly Lifesized (Fitzrovia). Work your way around a walkable board, accruing properties and making bags of cash. It's better than the board game, in that it only lasts 80 minutes, and is less liable to cause rifts in relationships with the people you love most — yay! After the game, relax in the Top Hat bar and restaurant.
Ping pong
Bounce first opened its doors in 2012, shortly after the London Olympics — and perhaps spurred on by a sudden surge in table tennis' popularity. The chain currently offers pimped-up ping pong in Battersea Power Station, Farringdon and Old Street. More boozy patrons can even have a go at beer pong: "you sink em, you drink em".
Shooting range
Wielding a firearm takes training, a gun licence and a drive out to the countryside... unless you pop down to Clays. Two venues in Moorgate and Canary Wharf offer virtual clay pigeon shooting on giant screens. The lack of actual projectiles means you and your date/mates/work chums can safely work your way through the cocktail list between rounds.
Shuffleboard
The beefed-up version of centuries-old pub game shove ha'penny, shuffleboard can be found in various pubs across the capital, though in the case of a handful of places, it's their bread and butter. Such locations include Shuffleboard Bar (St Pancras), Electric Shuffle (Canary Wharf, Bermondsey, King's Cross) and Shuffleclub Shoreditch — all of which have throw in lashings of food and drink options to go with the slidey fun and games.
VR bars
If you really want to get away from it all (or you just fancy shooting up zombies with your pals), a VR bar will certainly do the trick. Sandbox (Holborn) is one of the best-known, and lets you choose from a range of experiences including Squid Game, Deadwood, and Unbound Fighting League. (The piece de resistance, though, is Sandbox's cocktail-mixing robot arm — who wouldn't love that).
Other places bidding you to go on adventures/blast stuff to smithereens include DNA VR (Camden, Hammersmith, Battersea Power Station), Navrtar (Ealing) and Omescape VR (Southbank, Aldgate).
A bit of everything
Can't make your mind up? Got a big group who all want to do different thing? Try one of these multi-activity locations:
- Four Thieves (Battersea): Home to a very cool racing arcade with various other games thrown in. They also do karaoke, and — should it be your thing — naked strip karaoke.
- Rowans (Finsbury Park): More than just everyone's fave bowling alley, Rowans also lays on the likes of pool and karaoke.
- Players Social (Spitalfields): Darts, shuffleboard, foosball... many of the activities we've mentioned above can be found crammed into this east London funhouse.
- Flukes @ Big Penny Social (Walthamstow): There's augmented darts, shuffleboard, karaoke and pool in this Blackhorse Beer Mile beer hall.
- Boom Battle Bar (Aldgate East, Ealing, the O2, Oxford Street, Wandsworth). Axe-throwing, augmented-reality darts, beer pong, karaoke, shuffleboard and more. They even put on cocktail masterclasses.
- Gravity (Westfield Stratford, Wandsworth): Street golf, AR darts, e-karting and video gaming are just some of the activities at this eventful spot.
