Welcome back for another exciting update on the UK and Ireland escape room scene. If there’s anything you think is missing from here or you have some news then let me know via email and I’ll add it in the next update. I’m always on the look out for any new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to you!
Company news and rumours
- London:
- You may have heard of a small escape room operator called Time Run with a game called Lance of Longinus that some argue is the best escape room in the UK. Well, they’ve finally announced the long awaited sequel. Tickets go on sale in a few days with the opening in a month or so. As is normal, I’ll be delaying my visit for a while to give them a chance to settle down.
- World War II – the Ops Room is opening at Operation Escape in Bromley
- This article on the best escape rooms in the UK seems to have confused London with the UK. No matter, let’s look at what’s there. Time Run, clueQuest, Escape Plan, Omescape. So far, so good. Those all seem reasonable entries. Sherlock Unlock? WTF? Surely no one who’s actually played the game would have included it in that list.
- Too late to book now, but over the weekend there was a free escape room to celebrate the launch of a new ITV show Dracula, Escape the Castle.
- North West England:
- Breakout Manchester – High St opened Identify
- The Game is opening at Breakout Challenge near Manchester
- Escape Room Centre opened Secret Agent and Bomb in Blackpool. Two more TRAP designed games. Having played four TRAP games I’m very much looking forward to more!
- South East England:
- Room Lockdown is a new venue opening in Hornchurch near Romford. No details beyond the website suggesting their planning on opening a couple of rooms with prison and Egyptian themes.
- Hannibal is opening at The Lockey in Bournemouth
- Time Trap Escape opened Dickens’ Final Chapter in Reading. You may remember them from a brief festival run – they’ve now negotiated a longer run at the Great Expectations.
- The Panic Room Gravesend opened The Dollhouse
- Keen readers will remember that an escape room opened up in the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower. Well, that’s had a small writeup here.
- East Midlands:
- Trapp’d opened in Corby with Area 51 and Maine State Prison
- And they’ve already started getting some new coverage
- Looks like there might be a new escape room opening in Derby. Time Travel Theatre is a really interesting group to look at. It’s not clear exactly what they’re up to but what they’ve been looking at previously suggests this could be something pretty epic. Worth keeping your eyes peeled!
- Trapp’d opened in Corby with Area 51 and Maine State Prison
- South West England:
- Cornwall’s Great Escape Rooms opened Room 13
- The Plymouth Daily name checked a couple of local escape rooms in their article on unusual things to do in Plymouth.
- If you felt Penzance needed another escape room then you’ll be pleased to here that Eureka Escape are on their way. The Facebook page mentions that this new business was inspired by an escape room in Switzerland a couple of years ago, so hopefully there will have been plenty of love poured into the game.
- Scotland
- Escape Edinburgh – Haymarket opened a copy of Contagion, one of the rooms that the Escape brand has already tried in other locations.
- Wales
- Probably a long way off but Port Talbot may get an escape room if the planning permission mentioned in this article is granted. Looks like another educational/historical location that’s using an escape room as a fun way of engaging visitors. Long may that continue!
- East of England:
- Oliver Cromwell’s House opened an escape room in Ely
- Yorkshire and the Humber:
- Escape opened in Hull with 221B Baker Street. Contagion and Taken will follow later in the week.
- They also got a mention in the Hull Daily Mail.
- King Arthur’s Secret, The Devil’s Playground and The Underworld are opening at The Great Escape Game, the new Leeds venue from the Sheffield company
- Escape opened in Hull with 221B Baker Street. Contagion and Taken will follow later in the week.
- Ireland:
- Sherlock Holmes’ Final Case is opening at Escapade Cobh.
- Nationwide
- There was an interesting article listing “the UK’s most mind-blowing live action puzzle games”. There was enough there to suggest the person writing it knew a bit about escape rooms but some of the choices were surprising. Lucardo has only been open for a couple of weeks. clueQuest is great but Time Run is generally regarded as better. Bewilder Box seems to have been winning more hearts in Brighton. Still – if it brings the idea that this is a Big Thing to the masses then I’m all for it.
That’s all folks
That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.
Thanks for reading!
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