Spend Your Weekend Having Drinks Behind Bars
Last weekend I went to jail. Well, no, not really. I did put on a bright orange jumper, sat behind bars and spoke to a warden. But instead of fighting for freedom I was fighting for a margarita and the jail keepers weren’t as concerned about keeping us in our cells as they were about making us the perfect cocktail. The jail in question: Alcotraz.
Playing off of the historic San Francisco jail Alcatraz, a jail known for housing some of the world’s most notorious gangsters such as Al Capone and Robert Stroud, Alcotraz aims to immerse “prisoners” into the prison-themed cocktail bar. After a successful opening on Brick Lane six years ago, new Alcotraz locations are popping up all across England.
Prior to arrival, all guests paid the £40 entry fee and were asked to bring a handle of liquor of their choosing to “smuggle” into the prison. I went with the cheapest tequila on the shelf but others brought bottles of Grey Goose, Jack Daniels and Malibu. Walking into the venue you’re immediately thrown into a “holding cell” where the staff, dressed up as police officers, come in to explain the laws and provide you with an uncomfortably oversized orange jumper along with assistance in smuggling in your alcohol so Warden Gordon doesn’t find out.
What follows is a night full of debaucherous scheming amongst inmates to hide our alcohol from the Warden, drama and, above all, amazing cocktails. For two hours my friend and I, along with a dozen other cell mates, sat in the Alcotraz penitentiary plotting our escape and sipping our specialty cocktails. We spoke one on one with Warden Gordon, helped a fellow inmate out of solitary confinement, pleaded with a criminal lawyer and eventually got out of jail for free. I’d say it was a successful night.
Alcotraz may be a one-of-a-kind cocktail bar experience, but it’s not the only place in London guests can go to for what marketers call “experiential socializing,” otherwise known as an expensive but entertaining night out that includes drinks and an activity of some sorts. Over the past couple years dozens of new immersive activity bars began opening their doors all across the city. Aside from going to jail in Alcotraz last weekend, I also spent an evening in a post-war underground station themed bar called ‘Cahoots,’ along with playing life sized Monopoly at Monopoly Lifesized (yes, it was an expensive weekend).
Charlie Gilkes, co-founder of Cahoots, told the Gentleman’s Journal, “Dinner and drinks is no longer interesting enough — experiential socializing is great fun and creates unique moments of escapism that are increasingly welcome and necessary in our relentlessly fast-paced lives.
Spending a night in a fake jail cell drinking cocktails wasn’t necessarily on my London bucket list, but it’s one I now believe everyone should add to theirs. As restaurateurs and bar owners continue to outdo themselves with these immersive experiences, there’s no guessing how I may be spending my weekends a year from now. I just hope a little less orange is involved.
