Jack & Boule

Jack & Boule | A popup boules court on the Southbank

If there’s one thing you can say about Jack & Boule, a laid-back boules court popping up for the summer, 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…

…and a tidy 25% off all court bookings until the end of September for all Nudge readers. Just punch in the code NUDGE25 when booking here. 

You’ll find the place just behind the National Theatre, and it’s pretty huge, with space for 350 players at a push. 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 comfort dishes from Nanny Bill’s (mac & cheese croquettes, smoked brisket burgers with burnt butter mayo, etc.); Lebanese from Lil’Watan (halloumi wraps, chicken fattoush salad, etc.); and Mexican from Rico Burrito who do a burrito larger than the average baby. Then there’s the shipping container bar which will be 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 finally there’ll be cocktails too, with refreshing numbers like the tequila & chilli-loaded Watermelon Picante, or a boozy pineapple & coconut slushie in the form of the Aloha Colada.

So get ready to throw down.

NOTE: Jack & Boule is set to run until November 2023. You can find out more, and make a booking at their website right here. (Use code NUDGE25 to get 25% off all bookings until the end of September).

Jack & Boule | 101 Upper Ground, SE1 9PP

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