Jack & Boule | A pop-up boules court on the Southbank
If there’s one thing you can say about Jack & Boule, a laid-back boules pop-up, it’s that they give a toss.
In fact, they’re packing 10,000 sq ft of space with 8 sand-filled lanes at their Southbank venue for lots of people to give a toss, and playfully fling both jacks & boules as if they were on the French Riviera itself. Only with street food, and a pop up bar. It’s a recipe that proved so successful over the summer, they’re hanging around for the winter season too…
You’ll find the place just behind the National Theatre, and it’s pretty huge, with space for 350 players (and any pooches that come along). But for your purposes, you’ll want to corral a group of 2-6 buddies for a game, which lasts roughly an hour (55mins).
If you’ve never played boules, or if you have played boules but just made up your own rules, then here’s the official etiquette: you split into teams, and someone chucks the jack down the court. Then, you take turns throwing your boules as close to the jack as possible… orrr attempting to ruthlessly snipe your opponents boules out of the way. At the end, whoever gets their boule closest to the jack wins the point (and gets extra points for each other boule that’s nearer than their opponents’ closest one). First team to 13 points wins.
As for the street food? That’s taken care of by Jimmy’s Burgers and Rico Burrito (who do a burrito larger than the average baby). They even run a bottomless brunch on weekends, with Mexican treats and limitless prosecco.
Then there’s the shipping container bar supplied by the folks at Siren microbrewery, who’ve even gone as far as brewing a special Jack & Boules lager just for the pop up. And over at Toddy’s Tavern, you can sip festive cocktails, hot chocolates, hot toddies, punch, and more.
So get ready to throw down.
NOTE: Jack & Boule is open Tuesdays – Sundays, 11am-11pm. Lanes start at £25 for an hour – you can find out more, and book, HERE.
Jack & Boule | 101 Upper Ground, SE1 9PP
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