[Ad- gifted experience] I got the chance to go along to the new Boom Battle Bar at Lakeside as apart of their press day. The self-titled ‘Adventure Bar’ chain is an interesting twist on pubs, as if bars had gone down a different path than ‘more taps’ and instead focused on the pub games. Cribbage and horseshoes are out though, and while darts remain it does so with a twist and is joined by axe throwing, nail hammering and fun-fair style physical games.
Where I’m from we have a lot of pubs, there’s probably a pub for every 3k people in the town, and it’s a big town. We also have clubs, chain bars, and you can drink at the restaurants too. When you walk into most of the pubs though, be that your King’s Head, Red Lion or White Hart, they’re all pretty similar. Lots of tables and low seating, a row of stools at the bar, a tv in each room. A lot of these places feel tired (and tend to be filled with the retired) and certainly don’t feel welcoming – it feels like it’s uncommon for places to gain ‘regulars’ based on proximity, more so on association. Boom Battle Bar in Lakeside feels like a response to that, an attempt to try and make an actual destination that does a lot of things that pubs used to do decades ago; to be a place to entertain, meet up, play a few games and relax.
