London is always changing with a vast array of pop ups and new popped up venues and experiences from restaurants to new shows.

Christmas offers

The festive season is fast approaching, which means the rush to book Christmas work parties is well and truly on!

In the spirit of the season of goodwill, for a limited time only,  super-sustainable dining concept Eleven98 will be offering a 20% DISCOUNT on bookings for both their Social Dining (a weekly Friday night supper club) and also their Private Dining. The regular ticket price for their 9 course tasting menu experience is £72 per person, but with this exclusive 20% discount the price is reduced to £60.

Eleven98 is an original and totally one-of-a-kind fine dining experience. It’s a platform for showcasing the incredible produce growing in the Borough of Hackney, where chef and founder Aidan Brooks is proud to have been born and bred. What makes Eleven98 truly unique is the fact that 100% of the fruits, vegetables and herbs that Aidan uses on his menu must have grown within Hackney. He achieves this by cultivating much of the produce himself at his own veg garden, by foraging for wild foods around the borough, and by maintaining very close relationships with local organic food growers.

Eleven98’s weekly communal Social Dining at The Chef’s Table is for up to 12 guests, and takes place most Fridays. The Eleven98 experience always begins with a quirky welcome cocktail on arrival, made using Haggerston-produced spirits from the 58 & Co distillery. They offer a nine course gastronomic tasting menu, and sustainability is at the very heart of their ethos. Charcoal-filtered water is provided on the table, and other drinks are BYOB.

For more info about Eleven98 and what makes their concept so unique, you can check them out over at www.eleven98hackney.com.

So whether you’re organising your work Christmas do, or would simply like to get together with your nearest and dearest for a special treat, Eleven98 has got you covered. Just send an email to aidan@eleven98hackney.com quoting code “HACKNEY20” to organise a reservation for the weekly Friday night supper club or to enquire about a private dining booking. Aidan will be happy to discuss any dietary requirements that you or other members of your party may have, and can create bespoke tasting menus for those with specific requirements.

Fun things to do in London

Phantom Peak

Location: Canada Water, London
Ticket cost: From £35
Website: https://phantompeak.com/

Phantom Peak, is known far and wide as the Venice of the West! In this fully-realised steampunk mining town, nothing is what it seems…

What is hiding in the vestiges of the mines? What does the charismatic founder of corporate JONACO really seek in this sleepy town? Was the Blimp Crash really just an accident?

Dine, shop, play games, go sightseeing, collect clues… explore the town and uncover its mysteries at your own pace for up to five hours in an immersive open-world adventure the likes of which you’ve never seen before!

The London Bridge Experience : The Sickness – Halloween Special

Date: 22 – 31 October 2022
Tickets: from £26.95
Website: https://www.thelondonbridgeexperience.com/thesickness/

This Halloween Special show is strictly for adults only (16+) and not for the faint-hearted – our show is intended to scare, terrify and unnerve guests, lasting approximately 30 minutes.

“In 1939, a twisted experimental psychiatric medical institution run by the infamous Dr Natas was opened. The events that took place in there have never been spoke about, myth is it was condemned but was it

Follow the hideous path of the insane and try to escape Dr Natas and his deranged staff. Try not to loose yourself in the bedlam that will unravel before you. Keep your wits about you when you check in, just know that if you hide they won’t go away.

Will you survive the mad methods of medicine and torture in the bowls of London Bridge or will you become part of The Sickness….come and find out you have nothing to lose but your mind.”

Puttshack Bank – Crazy Golf

Ticket cost: From £13.50
Website: https://www.puttshack.com/uk/locations/bank

Located in bustling Central London, their Bank venue is surrounded by the grand architecture of the historic No. 1 Poultry building. Good vibes only as you navigate our crazy, tech-infused mini golf courses and unique event spaces. All that winning (or losing) will work up an appetite so our passionate chefs & bartenders will tantalise your taste buds with flavours from around the globe. So, get your game face ready for a perfect outing of friendly competition, drinks and dining.

Secret Cinema – Guardians of the Galaxy

On till : 4 December 2022
Location: Wembley Park, London
Price: From £35.00
Website: https://www.secretcinema.org/

Secret Cinema is the ultimate immersive cinema experience.

Monopoly

LOCATION Tottenham Court Road, London
DATES 14 August 2021
PRICES ranging from £48pp plus
BOOK www.monopolylifesized.com

Global play and entertainment company, Hasbro, Inc. and GAMEPATH (a new division of international theatre producer SELLADOOR WORLDWIDE) are pleased to release the very first details of the MONOPOLY LIFESIZED experience – a new, participatory gameplay attraction bringing together the best of the iconic board game, escape rooms and team challenge – the first of its kind in the world – due to open in London on 14 August 2021.

Tickets are on sale now via the website, and the team are seeking the biggest MONOPOLY fans in the UK to be among the first on the board.

All the most well-loved elements of a classic MONOPOLY gameplay have been translated into an exciting 4D experience on a full-sized board that teams of players will move around, participating in challenges as they go in order to acquire properties, earning money as they PASS GO, GO TO JAIL, picking up a CHANCE CARD and maybe getting lucky landing on FREE PARKING…

MONOPOLY LIFESIZED is an immersive, on-your-feet version of the world’s favourite family game brand. Experience the thrill of trying to stage a heist in Mayfair, competing against a clock to build some of London’s iconic buildings, solving a baffling murder mystery, stepping into the world of codebreakers…

The MONOPOLY: LIFESIZED experience will take place at 213 – 215 Tottenham Court Road, a 22,000sq ft building over three floors in the heart of the West End: THE COURT – the first in a series of central London venues dedicated to live gameplay. The building will house a retail outlet selling a wide range of Hasbro game merchandise, THE TOP HAT – a destination MONOPOLY-themed bar and restaurant serving signature cocktails and a quintessential British small-plates menu – plus three individually designed and unique main gameplay boards – Classic, The Vault, and City – and a Junior Board – making it a brand-new destination attraction where people can eat, drink, shop and play all under one roof.

MONOPOLY LIFESIZED will consist of a 75-minute gameplay segment on a 15 x 15m board, featuring 8 Properties, 2 Utility Companies, 2 Train Stations, Jail, Free Parking, Go, and Just Visiting. Each board can host between 8 and 24 people split into 4 teams, all playing against each other. Each team will have their own personal MONOPOLY token –, Scottie Dog, Boot, Racing Car, etc. – leading them around the game, taking scores, and giving hints where required. Each property square will have a full-sized location specific room behind it that players enter to participate in a challenge to ‘acquire’ that particular property. The challenges will be a mixture of physical and mental puzzles and games that will test players’ skills and lateral thinking, and will be themed appropriately for the square, featuring either some historical or current day relationship with that part of London. MONOPOLY: LIFESIZED will be created by a team drawn from across the immersive theatre, tech and escape room worlds: creative producers are Tom Beynon and Paul Mansfield, with set design by Tim McQuillen-Wright (designer for Secret Cinema experiences Stranger Things, Blade Runner, and Moulin Rouge), costume design by Sarah Mercade , sound design by Luke Swaffield, Production Management by Entourage, and Scenic Construction by Scene2. Clockwork Dog are Gameplay Consultants and Operations bringing on board their extensive experience in designing and building immersive and technically impressive escape room games.

Peaky Blinders

Location: Camden Town
Ticket cost: From £49.50
Website: https://www.immersivepeakyblinders.com/

Tomb Raider

Location: Camden Town, London
On till: 31 December
Ticket cost: From £35.00
Website: https://www.tombraiderlive.co.uk

Do you have what it takes to be Lara Croft? Work through real-life puzzles, collect relics, brave the zipline, climb through the jungle, and outsmart the enemies in this unique live adventure.

Punchdrunk The Burnt City

Location: One Cartridge Place, London, SE18 6ZR
Dates: 28 August 2022 with previews commencing on Tuesday 22nd March 2023
Prices: From £45
Book: http://www.theburntcity.com/

Punchdrunk, the internationally-acclaimed theatre company who pioneered the breakthrough of immersive theatre in the UK, are returning to London for the first time since 2014. Following a break from the capital, with sell-out international productions and their award-winning foray into TV, with The Third Day, the company are back in their home city to premiere their first major new show since The Drowned Man.  

“As the smoke soars on wings to heaven, so sinks our city”

In the smouldering promise of the fall of Troy, a mythical world of Gods and mortals rises from the ashes.

As Greece teeters on the brink of victory, the neon backstreets of Downtown Troy give way to a sprawling labyrinth hiding secrets even the prophecies could not foretell.

In this colossal playground, the furies watch on as mortals play out their fate. And as night falls, the city comes alive. One last time.

On their own theatrical adventure, audiences are free to explore this dystopian landscape – taking them from the majesty of royal palaces to the pulsating underworld of Troy. Audiences may choose to follow the characters who emerge from the shadows, saturate themselves in the show’s shifting atmosphere, or break free of the crowd and discover mysteries lying in wait at the heart of the labyrinth.

A limited season is on sale until 28th August 2022 with previews commencing on Tuesday 22nd March in the company’s new home at Woolwich Works. The official opening will be on Thursday 21st April and tickets go on sale to the general public on Wednesday 8th September at 10am.

The Burnt City will be Punchdrunk’s most ambitious production to date, opening in the wake of long-running international productions Sleep No More in New York and in Shanghai (where it has been playing to sold out audiences since it re-opened in June 2020 following a Covid pause). The production reunites the creative team behind Sleep No More and features a cast of international performers, including original members of the first Punchdrunk shows.

The Burnt City will take place in the company’s new home in Woolwich Arsenal – taking over three Grade II Listed Buildings as part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s new creative district, Woolwich Works. This will be the first time some of the buildings have ever been opened to the public. The epic size of these buildings offers the company a scale never before seen in a Punchdrunk show with vast heights and over 100,000 square feet of space. Alongside the production, the buildings will be the permanent home for Punchdrunk, as the company develops new works across theatre, TV and gaming. 

Punchdrunk is committed to working with the local community including running community events and partnerships with local arts and community groups in the borough, offering support, learning and resources. 

The Burnt City is supported by Porsche as Headline Partner. 

Theatre shows

The Vaults – The Witches of Oz

On till: 14 January
Ticket price: Prices vary throughout the week
General Admission: £20 – £35
Dining Tickets: £45 – £59
Website: https://www.thevaults.london/the-witches-of-oz

Citizens of the Emerald City! Your presence is requested at The Wonderful Feast of Oz. So don your green-est glam for the most wicked show of the year, as The Vaults returns with their newest, gravity-defying immersive night. 

The Emerald City is in a state of glittering turmoil. It’s Good vs. Wicked in a fierce battle to be crowned the next Witch of Oz and you have been invited to cast your vote.

But when Dorothey is drag-ged back to the scene, will their homecoming turn the tide for Good or Wicked? And will their return help the Witches finally see over the rainbow, where good comes in killer heels.

Cages

On till: 1 January 2023
Ticket cost: from £15
Website: https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/cages

Watch a show where you will be welcomed into Anhedonia, where emotions are forbidden, and hearts are locked in CAGES. Woolf is a lone soul living in the shadows until he meets the dazzlingly peculiar Madeline. Can their newly minted love survive the dystopian world of control they inhabit? Long buried stories come to the surface, as dreams and reality intersect, and all Woolf holds dear is threatened.

2:22 The Ghost Story

Location: Criterion Theatre
Dates:
Prices:
Book: https://222aghoststory.com/about/

Back to the Future

Location: Adelphi Theatre, Covent Garden
Dates: From 20 August 2021
Times: Performances: Mondays, Wednesdays – Saturdays at 7.30pm, Wednesday & Saturday matinees at 2.30pm, Sundays at 3pm (N.B. no performances on Tuesdays except 24 & 31 August 2021 at 7.30pm)
Prices: From £19.95
Book: https://lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/back-to-the-future-the-musical

Marty McFly is a rock ‘n’ roll teenager who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr Emmett Brown. But before he can return to 1985, Marty must make sure his high school-aged parents fall in love in order to save his own existence.

BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical is directed by Tony Award-winning director John Rando (Urinetown, On The Town), alongside the multi Tony and Olivier Award-winning design team of Tim Hatley (set and costume design), lighting design by Tim Lutkin, lighting consultant Hugh Vanstone, Gareth Owen (sound) and Finn Ross (video), with choreography by Chris Bailey, musical supervision and arrangements by Nick Finlow and Illusions by Chris Fisher. Orchestrations are by Ethan Popp and Bryan Crook, with dance arrangements by David Chase.

Casting is by David Grindrod Associates.

Sony Music Masterworks will release this autumn the Original Cast Recording of BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical.

Back to the Future the movie was released in 1985, starring Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly and Christopher
Lloyd as Dr Emmett Brown. The film grossed $360.6 million (£279 million) at the box office worldwide and the total box office for all three films in the Back to the Future franchise was $936.6 million (over $1.8 billion in today’s money).

Pop Ups

BuckBuck Games

Location: Ninth Life in London Catford
Ticket cost: From £10
Website: https://www.buckbuckgames.com/ticketed-events

Come play a host of games which are full of utter nonsense.

Bonkers Bar

On till: 17 December
Ticket cost: From £35.00
Location: Dalston
Website: https://bonkersbars.com/

Forget a venue full of sweets as this a twist on the worlds favourite children’s story Willy Wonker and the Chocolate Factory, as this is Billy Bonker’s and the Cocktail Factory which is a hilarious parody that transports those lucky enough to get their hands on a Golden Packet into an immersive theatrical experience that serves up cocktails with a very adult twist.

H Divsion London

Location: Shoreditch
Ticket costs: From £38.00
Website: https://www.hdivision.co.uk/

Enter a bar / police station for two hours and solve mysteries which will unlock your detection and taste profiling skills with cocktails.

Restaurants & Supperclubs

Funicular Productions Murder Express

On till: 21 April 2023
Ticket prices: From £65.00
Location: Pedley Street, London

Expect murder and mayhem whilst all aboard on this trian.

Faulty Towers

Location: Radisson Blu Edwardian Bloomsbury, 9-13 Bloomsbury St, London WC1B 3QD
Dates: From 2 September to 18 December
Times: Thursday – Saturday evenings plus Saturday lunch
Prices: From £60 plus depending on day and time
Book: www.radissonblu-edwardian.com/faulty-towers

London’s Longest running immersive experience will be reopening this September till mid December.

Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, the critically acclaimed international immersive phenomenon that celebrates its tenth birthday in London’s West End in October 2021, will resume full capacity performances at the Radisson Blu Edwardian in Bloomsbury from 2 September for a limited run this autumn. Closed for much of 2020 due to the pandemic, the show reopened last autumn in a new socially distanced format, before closing again due to the December lockdown. The producers are pleased to announce that they will be bringing back the original version of the pre-pandemic show, in a newly refurbished space in the hotel, which has extremely high-quality ventilation. A loving tribute to the BBC’s classic TV series, the show has been seen by over a million people worldwide since it was born in Australia in 1997. As London’s longest running immersive show, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is a highly interactive experience, where audiences enjoy a 3-course meal and 5-star comedy.

When the audience become diners in the ‘Faulty Towers’ restaurant, pretty much anything can happen – because 70% of the show is improvised.

The fun starts as guests wait to be seated. It then hurtles along in a 2-hour tour de force of gags and shambolic service as Basil, Sybil and Manuel serve a ‘70s-style 3-course meal together with a good dollop of mayhem.

Eleven98

LOCATION Secret location
DATES Various dates
PRICE Varies
BOOK https://www.eleven98hackney.com

East London’s favourite supper club Eleven98 by Chef Aidan is back!

Book and enjoy a dining experiences by Michelin-trained Chef Aidan Brooks at his Chef’s Table for an innovative and sustainable seven course fine dining tasting menu.

Enjoy a social dining experience and enjoy a showcase of Aidan’s incredible produce which is grown on his doorstep in the London Borough of Hackney. The Eleven98 experience always begins with a quirky cocktail on arrival, made using Haggerston-produced spirits from the 58 Gin Distillery. Then you’ll take a pew, sit back and delve into a sequence of seven carefully curated tasting courses, based entirely on Hackney sourced produce. All of the fruits, vegetables and herbs on Aidan’s menus have been organically cultivated or foraged in the borough, and everything else has to
be Hackney produced or sourced. They are very proud to say that sustainability and environmental mindfulness are at the very heart of their ethos. Aidan’s interactive style of service means he’s on hand to offer insightful details behind each dish as it’s presented, explaining where things were grown or where they came from. This makes the whole experience way more than just a meal.

Bookings are open from 17 April, beginning with Saturday lunch services from 2pm. This will be with a reduced capacity. The seven course tasting menu will be served al fresco in the picturesque garden of our secret new location, and bookings can be made here!

Then from Friday 21 May Eleven 98 will be moving back indoors for Friday and Saturday night 7pm slots, continuing with the reduced capacity.

If you’d like to book out the whole table during April, May or early to mid-June, just get in touch with Aidan via his Private Dining page here.

From 25 June Eleven98 hopes to be able to return to full capacity with no restrictions.

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