SHREWSBURY PRISON
In the quaint Shropshire town of Shrewsbury stands an imposing Victorian building. Built as a prison, and housing male and female inmates until its decommission in 2013, it’s now open to the public. As well as hosting a museum, it’s also the home of the world’s largest escape game - not exactly an escape room because it takes place across the 4-acre site. The game allows you to live out the Hollywood favourite of a prison break, solving puzzles, using your ingenuity and even interacting with actors in character as you progress through the story. Unlike your standard hour-long escape room, this challenge lasts 2.5 hours and, to help you suspend your disbelief even further, you’ll be given an orange jumpsuit to wear. Will you be able to pull it off?
As if that wasn’t enough, this prison in Shropshire hosts a second, shorter escape challenge that lasts just an hour. And both games also get you entry to the museum section of the old prison for a self-guided visit.
SHEPPERTON MALLET PRISON
Another old prison standing out like a sore thumb in a charming countryside town, this time the prison dates from 1625 and the town is Shepton Mallet, in Somerset. The escape room challenge here sees you locked up in a cell after being jailed for bank robbery. The cops never found your stash of £1 million, so the pressure is on to break free and recover it - before someone else does. This 1-hour game is perfect for family groups, suitable for children from the age of 8 years old. As with Shrewsbury Prison, entry to the museum and exhibits comes included with entry to the escape room.
FORT PERCH ROCK
Flung out on the end of the Wirral Peninsula, surrounded by the crashing waves of the Irish Sea is Fort Perch Rock. Equally gloomy and brooding as any prison, this fortification has stood atop a rocky outcrop, cut off from the town of New Brighton at high tide save for a walkway, since 1826. It was built to defend the Port of Liverpool from invaders and, though it never saw true action, local legend says the first shots of both World War I and !! were fired from its batteries.
So it’s appropriate that the escape room experiences now offered in Fort Perch Rock are Second World War themed. You read that right - experiences - as there are two separate games on offer. In the first, you must crack the enemy’s secret code and stop the Nazi invasion of Britain, while the second sees you recreating the almost mythical exploits of the Dambusters Raid. The authentic setting of these rooms also makes the games more expansive than the typical escape rooms. Up to 4 participants and 1 hour of gameplay are standard stats, in Fort Perch Rock you can have 6 people on a team and play for 75 minutes.
THE COUNTING HOUSE BAR
Last on the list is something a little bit different. If you’re invited to a party at the Counting House Bar in Broadstairs, Kent, make sure you find out what’s on the agenda before arriving. It could be anything from a classy cocktail party to a riotous night of karaoke or, of course, an escape room challenge. What is now a luxury bar and events venue was built in 1882 as a branch of Cobbs Bank, and was operated by Lloyds until changing hands in 2017. The action we’re interested in is found in the old Victorian bank vaults. There are two escape room experiences on offer and - surprise, surprise - they’re right on theme: the Heist and the Bank Job. It's no surprise that Kent is one of the most popular destinations for escape rooms in the country.
ONE-OFF EVENTS
That’s about it as far as permanent, on-location escape rooms are concerned, but there are plenty more locations that have been temporarily overtaken by escape room operators for one-off events or pop-up experiences. Illustrious venues that have hosted these games include the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds and Buckingham Palace itself! You might have a bit more trouble guessing the theme of the puzzle that was installed in the Queen’s Gallery of the palace for a few months in 2019. Royal intrigue? No. James Bond meets Crufts? Not quite. It was actually inspired by the cryptography of Leonardo da Vinci.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
There are a couple of escape room experiences in the UK that don’t quite meet the on-location criteria of this list but that have to be included for their creativity and commitment to authenticity. The first is a puzzle game based on the internationally renowned TV series Sherlock which puts you in the shoes of Benedict Cumberbatch’s version of the world’s most famous sleuth. As it’s located in Shepherd’s Bush, about three miles away from that famous address - 221B Baker Street - it doesn’t qualify, but it is operated by the team behind the series, so you know you’re getting a true-to-form experience. It's the most singular escape room in London!
Then there’s the escape room in Nottingham that’s set in underground caves. We haven’t included it fully on the list because these caves weren’t the scene of any action that’s recreated through the medium of an escape room, but it’s a truly unique venue that will have your hair standing on end before you’ve even been introduced to the game you’re going to be playing. Those games, by the way, including a gothic vampire romp and a climate crisis adventure, are fantastic and use the cavernous setting in thrilling ways - not to be missed!
