Modern Fables

Modern Fables the gang

Love escape rooms?
Love eerie escape rooms?
Love mystery?
Then you’ll love Modern Fables

Modern Fables is an award-winnning escape room destination located just off Broadway Market in Hackney, east London. We produce exciting, enticing, nerve-jangling adventures that will create those fond memories your friends or family wont forget in a hurry.

With our roots in London, we are a proudly independent company that shuns conformity.  We design and create our experiences in-house with the aid of talented theatrical artists to bring you originality rarely seen in escape rooms.  We focus on creating experiences we love rather than relying on bought-in games and stale clichés.

We set ourselves apart from other escape rooms by creating intriguing stories that immerse you right from the very beginning. You’ll meet odd characters who set the scene, immersing you in a story that feels like an adventure – not just a set of puzzles.  By the way, our characters will never make you feel uncomfortable or force you to sing and dance!  Unless you want to of course…

Originally based in South Bermondsey, South London Modern Fables is now situated in Hackney East, London.

The Escapist

An eerie escape adventure brings guests to a once bustling underground bar called ‘The Escapist’, run by the enigmatic Lavinia Carter in Hackney. For along time Lavinia was a leading figure on the New Cross and Deptford arts scene. But now strange happenings and mysterious disappearances mean the bar has been shunned and now Lavinia herself seems to have gone missing.

Lavinia does have a habit of taking impromptu trips though… but something does seem different this time. Has her interest in her late grandfather got anything to do with her recent disappearance? Or will she turn up on the backpacker trail sipping a margarita?

Hypersomnia 

Your dreams have been getting stranger and more vivid lately. In your dreams, you play yourself but there’s something different about you in some way. Something you can’t quite put your finger on. Something unsettling. The past few nights dreaming have also featured a strange symbol that keeps appearing in the strangest of places. One night it might appear as a secret tattoo, another night it might be the pattern of the wallpaper in a house you break into. Of course, you’re used to odd dreams but you broke out into a cold sweat when one night, a card with the very same symbol on it was slipped into your pocket.  You didn’t see who left it with you but you have a strong feeling enticing you to investigate.

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Thanks to Modern Fables for the game.  Read the community members  write ups of who attended from the comments section below.

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10 Comments

  1. Bianca says:

    Just finding the location of this room is a little adventure in and of itself! I’m sure it’s quite different in the daylight, but arriving at South Bermondsey after dark, I had to follow the directions given by Modern Fables to walk along dimly lit paths and underpasses. While the directions were very good and it was easier to find than expected, it was still somewhat creepy on my own. This did set the tone for the mysterious and dark theme of this room though…

    Read the full review here:
    http://www.shinylife.co.uk/2018/03/08/modern-fables/

  2. jamietolentino says:

    Picture this scenario. You arrive at South Bermondsey rail station and your phone GPS isn’t quite working as you had expected. It’s only an 11 minute walk from to the location but it’s dark and it seems to be a deserted place. You already begin to develop slight goosebumps from the trip there. Upon getting to the location (a deserted warehouse), you are brought back to a quintessential bar called ‘The Escapist’ that looks like it’s run by a lady. *eerie vibes* A guy named Alfie finally enters and leaves you to explore the area in pursuit of finding Lavinia’s whereabouts. He says something about how she seems to have gone missing and he needed our help to find her. A series of clues and puzzles are set about and the mystery ensues. It seems as though there may be supernatural powers at play and the setting really embodies it. I was properly freaked out near the end. It was one of the most experiential settings I’ve ever been.

    I wouldn’t recommend this for first timers, but this would be great for more experienced teams. A lot of reading is involved in dim lighting so keen readers and curious minds would do well. Very enjoyable experience overall! My only comment is that I seem to still be left hanging about what happened when we finished the escape game… but maybe it’s for another mysterious adventure?

  3. hannah says:

    The first challenge was finding the place! Hidden away in a warehouse in South London, the location – and dark, poorly lit streets on the way there – really added to the drama of the experience.

    The introduction to the experience by Alfie the bartender really helped to set the scene and guide us a little as to what to expect in the story. I don’t want to give too much away about the rooms, but they were really well set up and lit to fit the theme and drama of the experience.

    The clues were complicated enough to challenge the escape room pros, but also not too complicated for the less experienced in our group to solve and enjoy. However, I do think the experience may be better for smaller groups – as a group of six we completed the experience in around 35 minutes – which we were told was pretty fast – and at times some of us missed out on finding and understanding some of the clues as we were all searching separately.

    I did also feel a little bit like the story was missing a little something at the ending. Without giving anything away, I really wanted a bit more of a sense of closure in terms of what happened to the characters we were following. However, this may just be because we completed the room so quickly – I wasn’t ready for it to be over so soon, and would love to see a sequel experience to find out more about Lavinia’s story!

    Overall, Alfie was the perfect host – posing for pictures with us and even sending us away with a party bag. I’d defiantly recommend a visit.

    I’ve also shared this review on Facebook, TripAdvisor and TimeOut)

  4. Tolu says:

    So there’s a little bit more to the Surrey Quays/South Bermondsey area than just the shopping centre, which is where you find the Modern Fables escape room. It’s a little challenge to locate the venue, walking along paths that were pretty deserted, except for having to dodge the cyclists.

    Upon arriving at the industrial site looking warehouse, we enter ’The Escapists’ bar. Our bartender, Alfie, explains to us that his friend Lavinia (the actual bar owner), has disappeared and he’s just helping out till she comes back. Alfie is worried that the unusual and mysterious forces that Lavinia was looking into may have something to do with her absence.

    Alfie was a great in-character host, introducing the story while fitting in general escape room house keeping.

    The room sets and design fit the room theme of horror fiction, in a creepy, low-light manner. There were a variety of different elements including riddles, searching and locks. Those who like cryptic crosswords will definitely enjoy this room as key clues are located in the riddles and you need to really understand the details to figure out the next steps. The reading though can make it challenging to catch and hear everything with a large group as we had, and I think the room works better for smaller groups.

    I enjoyed the story and thought the rooms and clues were inter-woven well, with the build up to the final puzzle. The atmosphere, lights and sound really immerse you into the story. I would love to know more about what exactly happened to Lavinia and the other characters we came across while escaping.

    We finished in around 35 minutes (close to the record time), and were given a sweet(!) goody bag at the end.

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