London Overnight

Your weekend, day by day

1. 1

   Day 1

   

   Activity bar (games, darts, shuffleboard)

   From about 15:00 · 1.5 hours

   Arrival day. Travel in and check in, then the activity bar a walk from the hotel: a reserved booth with darts or shuffleboard and the screens keeping score. Drinks and food are ordered at the table.

   More about this+

   London's games bars cluster on Oxford Street, around Victoria Street and in Shoreditch, with indoor cricket nets on Bermondsey Street. A typical package gives two games and two drinks over about two hours, or a two-and-a-half-hour multi-activity session. The cricket nets go 18+ from 6pm and scale with numbers, roughly one net for up to 15 and two nets above that, with food and drinks added. Shoreditch's ball-pit bar sells fixed time slots from Wednesday to Sunday, so book the slot first. ID is checked at all of them.

   You get a reserved area for a set block of time, with the games on your table or lane and someone on hand to explain the scoring. Most venues run digital darts, shuffleboard, beer pong or a mix of all three, and the screens keep score so nobody argues.

   Drinks and food are ordered at the table. Some venues include a drink or a platter in the booking, others put it on a tab. Check which you have before you arrive so the money side is settled.

   No kit needed. Wear what you would wear to the pub. Trainers are fine.

   

   Add-on

   Escape room

   From about 15:00 · 1.5 hours

   If the group picks the escape room instead, it runs in the afternoon: split across themed rooms of up to six with an hour to get out, racing each other in parallel. Book the rooms side by side so the group finishes together.

   More about this+

   Most London escape rooms hold up to six, and five is the comfortable number, so a stag of 20 plays as four teams in parallel rooms for the hour. Venues that take groups are in Aldgate, on Oxford Street and in central London. For a bigger group that wants to stay together, a 90-minute game of truth and lies in the style of a TV traitors show runs in a private room in a city-centre bar, with the venue confirmed nearer the date. Some packages add a drink on arrival. Book the rooms side by side early.

   You are briefed, shut in and given sixty minutes. The puzzles are physical and logical rather than knowledge-based, and a games master watches on camera and drops hints when you are stuck. Most rooms have a clear story and a timer on the wall.

   A whole stag group will not fit in one room, so you are split across two or three and race each other. That usually turns out better than everyone in one space shouting over each other.

   Nothing special to wear. Rooms are strict about drinking beforehand, so do it early in the day.

2. 2

   Day 2

   

   Add-on

   Guided bar crawl

   From about 20:30 · 4 hours

   As an add-on, a guided bar crawl moves the group through a run of bars and finishes at a club, with the guide handling the doors. Dress for the last venue: no trainers and no sportswear.

   More about this+

   Guided crawls in London run in the West End, Shoreditch, Camden and Clapham, mostly on Friday and Saturday nights from about 7.30pm. Allow four to five hours, with free entry or a shot at each bar and a club at the end. Pick the area first, as the routes do not cross town. Bring a passport or driving licence, because screenshots of ID are refused. Smart casual is the safe standard: several routes refuse tracksuits, shorts, vests and flip-flops, and one bans fancy dress. Self-led passes from 9pm are an alternative, with the route sent a week ahead.

   You meet the guide at a fixed point and move through a run of bars across the evening, usually four or five, finishing at a club. The guide knows the doors, so you skip the queue and the group is not turned away for being too large.

   Most crawls include a welcome drink or a shot at each stop, and entry to the final venue. The rest is on you. Groups from several bookings are often merged, which some stags like and some do not, so ask whether yours is private.

   Dress code is the club's, not the guide's. No trainers and no sportswear at the last venue, and matching shirts get refused at some doors.