On a Friday night I ventured South. Deep, deep south, all the way to Catford. I had an appointment to view a house… a house with a secret!
This is a new immersive game that is housed in the upstairs of the fabulous Ninth Life pub and it was excellent. It has a dash of escape room thrown in, and is reminiscent of A Door in a Wall in that you meet characters and have tasks to complete along the way in order to reveal the mysteries hidden within.
The premise is that you’re there for a viewing of a property in order to decide whether to invest. But then things take a very odd turn. Throw yourself into it and prepared to get silly and this will be one of the best couple of hours you can imagine. They have done an amazing job on the production levels in terms of the scenery – you do feel like you’ve stepped into Wonderland or another world where nothing is what you’d expect and you must be prepared for whatever fantastical thing will come up as you move from room to room/dimension to dimension.
I really don’t want to say too much more as the fun is in the discovery but I highly recommend anyone go who likes escape rooms or immersive adventures.
The pub itself is worth a visit anyway. It’s all dolled up with fantabulous pieces, and is a bit like Mary Poppins bag with all sorts of stuff going on. The front – normal pub (ish), upstairs this crazy other dimension known as The Viewing, out back a street food area and then in the back area while we were there they had glitter makeup artists and a contortionist putting on a performance. Not the only performer of the night I gathered.
It is a sister pub to the Aeronaut in Acton (where they have circus acts regularly) and the Owl and the Hitchhiker in Holloway which has its own delights.