The Top Escape Rooms In London | Immersive Rooms, Virtual Reality, And More
Looking to escape the daily grind?
Well, why not blow off a little steam by willingly walking into a serial killer’s den, pulling off an elaborate heist or finding the codes to prevent full nuclear meltdown? Because London’s escape rooms offer you a chance to… well, escape reality, while throwing some light puzzle solving into the mix and almost certainly putting your friendships and relationship in jeopardy in the process.
Here we’ve rounded up the best escape rooms in town, ranging from the easy to the fiendishly difficult, and from the hilarious to the terrifying. Prepare yourself to crack the codes of the Nazi enigma machine; escape from a maximum security prison cell; play a little game with Sherlock’s nemesis; find a mythical diamond on a ghostly shipwreck; and save the planet from a deadly, virulent pathogen… (a deadly, virulent pathogen! Lolz, as if).
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ESCAPE PLAN | Shoreditch
When planning great escape rooms, The Great Escape is not a terrible place to start. Escape Plan have four excellent rooms in the labyrinth of Rich Mix, three of which are set against the backdrop of World War II:
The Adventure Begins
You’re a P.O.W. All you’ve got is the desire to break free, and the diary of the only inmate to have ever done it. Using his clues and a bit of physical prowess you need to think, decode and crawl your way to freedom.
The Battle For Britain
It’s August 1940, and it seems that ol’ Johnny Luftwaffe has decided to play silly buggers again, and started bombing the daylights out of the country. As the only survivors in your airbase, you need to mobilise the remaining shattered fragments of the RAF, and somehow thwart the imminent second attack.
Roll Out the Barrel
Having defeated the Luftwaffe and essentially won the war, it’s time for a knees up. Except those dastardly champagne Charlies at top brass have hidden all the booze. Luckily the Air Commodore is away on business and whilst the cat’s away…the mice have 60 minutes to break in to his office, find the stash, and roll out the barrel.
Pushed For Time
Curveball alert – Escape Plan’s newest room doesn’t take place in the 1940s. In fact, it doesn’t take place in any fixed time, because it’ll require you first to repair – then learn to operate – a time-travelling elevator to jump through the centuries, mess with the essence of time itself, and hopefully avert a murder.
Price: From £28pp | Number of Rooms: 4 | Number of Players: 2-7 | Address: Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road | Book Escape Plan
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SECRET STUDIO | Brick Lane
If you’re looking for an escape room with as much stylistic panache as it does fiendish puzzles, you’ll want to give Secret Studio a go. The sets and props are some of the most realistic and detailed we’ve seen, and the creatively-designed puzzles frequently involve a bit of lateral thinking. Tucked away just off Brick Lane, they have four iterations of their highly popular Escape In Time room on offer, so if you’re really competitive you can race not just against the clock, but up to three groups of your mates at the same time.
Escape In Time
You’re the newbies at a down-at-heel film production office which hasn’t seen much love since the 70s. And something sinister seems to be afoot, because the editor has mysteriously vanished – and it’s up to you to unpick the clues hidden among the vintage equipment and film posters to try and save them…
Price: £38pp | Number of Rooms: 4 copies of 1 room | Number of Players: 3-6 | Address: Wentworth Street, London, E1 7SA | Book Secret Studio
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AIM | Aldgate
Your aim at AIM? To escape from one of their four fiendish escape rooms, each equipped with puzzles that test every inch of your noggin, from agility and speed to lateral thinking and careful manipulation of tricksy props and mechanisms.
Patient Zero 2150
In a room that offers a true escape from reality, you’re tasked with the fantastical role of saving the planet from a deadly, virulent pathogen.
Psychopath’s Den
Satanic graffiti. Jars of organs. A hidden crematorium. The psychopath’s den is a seriously chilling room that, on the plus side, will definitely make you want to get out as fast as possible.
Hotel Room of Horrors
This hotel will rue the day they didn’t heed the ol’ superstition about having a Room 13. Some teens stayed over here, have awakened some kind of dark, malevolent force, and the hotel’s now offering a handsome reward to anyone who can see it off. Just be warned that the late checkout fine is eternal damnation.
Spy Heroes
Filled with gadgets and designed to test your powers of deduction, this family-friendly room sees you attempt to locate the whereabouts of your friend, an undercover spy who it seems has been kidnapped.
Price: From £30pp | Number of Rooms: 4 | Number of Players: 2-5 | Address: Goodman Fields, 8 Canter Way, E1 8PS | Book AIM
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ESCAPE FROM THE GOLDEN HINDE | Southwark
Given the existence of all the water, being trapped on board a ship is generally the default state of affairs when they’re out at sea. However, it’s a little different when it comes to The Golden Hinde. For one, it’s a pirate ship. Or, more specifically, it’s a 1970s replica of the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed across the globe and plundered Spanish gold with, thus making him a pirate (according to the Spanish). And two, despite having literally circumnavigated the globe, it’s now permanently docked just off Borough Market, where it bizarrely doubles up as one of the best escape rooms in London.
Head aboard, and you’ll be greeted by pirates with all the ooh arr gusto you’d hope for, and then find yourself and your team locked inside a cabin. The ceilings will be low. The history will be real. The puzzles will be fiendish, and will occasionally involve ropes, pulleys, maps, shots of rum, and moral debates about lopping people’s heads off.
Price: From £33pp | Number of Games: 1 | Number of Players: 3-6 (but you can play up to 12 people in two crews) | Address: St Mary Overie’s Dock, Cathedral St, SE1 9DE | Book Escape From The Golden Hinde
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ESCAPE LAND | Oxford Street
A major contributing factor to Escape Land being one of the best escape rooms in London is the fact that it’s located slap bang in the centre of town. In fact, it’s a stone throw away from Centre Point itself. So if you fancy escaping the throngs of shoppers & tourists, then you can get yourself locked into one of their two experiences:
Right To The Throne
This Game of Thrones-style experience involves you attempting to find the rightful heir to the crown after they’ve disappeared. Which means, if this really is anything like Game of Thrones, they’re definitely dead. But don’t let that stop you from trying!
Da Vinci’s Exploration
According to the game’s lore, these puzzles were created by Da Vinci himself, so expect the difficulty to be cranked up a wee bit. Apparently ol’ Leonardo found the Holy Grail, and has decided to try and hide it from the evil forces that seek to exploit it…
Price: From £90 (min 3 players, or 2 if you’re feeling cocky) | Number of Games: 2 | Number of Players: 2-6 | Address: 37-39 Oxford Street, W1D 2DU | Book Escape Land
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CLUE QUEST | Barnsbury
At ClueQuest you’re enlisted into Mr Q’s spy agency. Pretty standard so far. Except Mr Q is a mouse, and his arch nemesis is an evil sheep who accidentally turned himself into a farmyard fiend in a botched attempt to acquire animal powers. The storyline is charmingly wacky and anything but woolly with four fully fleshed missions to tackle, which can be enjoyed in any order, and each of which require you to solve physical puzzles, employ some shrewd observation skills and tackle some AR challenges. From Sheep Mutators to mind controlling satellites, Professor BlackSheep gets up to his fair share of mischief – but you and Mr Q will be there at every turn to thwart him. Plus, they have multiple copies of each room, so you can race another team of your friends at the same time.
Price: £30-£35pp | Number of Rooms: 4 types | Number of Players: 2-6 per room | Address: 169-171 Caledonian Road, London, N1 0SL | Book ClueQuest
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HIDDENCITY | Across London
Imagine an escape room the size of city. Unconstrained by the four walls of your cell, tomb, submarine, or barracks you can expect to journey across London, down backstreets and into unusual spots solving clues sent to your phone, and given to you by characters you’ll meet along the way. Expect to be guided into pubs, alleyways and bookshops uncovering hidden items and interacting with physical puzzles.
Everybody’s favourite cryptic kitty has done an Alice in reverse: escaped Wonderland and is now causing havoc in the real world. You’ll have to track him down but the Queen of Hearts has her own agenda (typical) and might need some willing heavies to sort him out.
Sherlock’s nemesis wants to play a little game with you. If you succeed he’ll make you an offer you won’t refuse – namely, not poisoning you, which is pretty good in most people’s book. Of course wherever there’s Moriarty, Mr Holmes won’t be too far behind – and, if you’re smart enough, you might be able to double-cross the criminal mastermind and work with London’s finest instead.
The evil queen from Snow White has gone berserk, probably because nobody’s ever bothered to ask her actual name. She’s thrown out her magic mirror (which seems a strong reaction for developing crows feet) and has bet that none of her subjects can solve her trail of clues to its location. It’s highly suspicious that everyone who’s taken up the challenge has disappeared, but perhaps your team will have more luck.
HiddenCity’s most elaborate and sophisticated game yet, this is a licensed hook-up with the Bond franchise to immerse you in the world of M16 espionage. Bond’s been mysteriously incapacitated and it’s up to you to work out how and why he’s been taken down. You’ll be racing through some of the film series’ iconic London locations, picking up clues, rifling through briefcases and infiltrating SPECTRE’s network, with plenty of opportunities for a martini en route.
Price: £16pp-£25pp | Number of Games: 4 | Number of Players: 2-6 per team | Address: Various start points across London | Book HiddenCity
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MISSION: BREAKOUT | Kentish Town
‘Located in the ghost tube station, South Kentish Town’ is probably all you need to hear about Mission: Breakout in order to buy a ticket – but we’ll provide you with some extra info just in case. They’ve two escape rooms within this charming relic of London’s transport history, and both are suitably themed.
Codebreakers
Deep underground as the bombs fall on London, you and your team must crack the codes of the Nazi enigma machine and save the city.
Underground 2099
Spoiler alert: 2027 saw the advent of a fiery, nuclear apocalypse that all but destroyed humanity. Now that it’s the year 2099, it’s about time you defeated the radioactive rats that rose to prominence in the wake of the great fire. And if you book on a Friday night, ‘extra scares’ are in store.
The Lost Passenger
“It’s 1924, South Kentish Town has recently closed but, by accident, a train stopped at the station and an absent minded passenger alighted and was never seen again…” Not just their spiel, but something that actually happened. This game, based on the real-life disappearance of the “lost passenger” will have you descending into the old station itself to unearth the truth.
Price: £28pp+ | Number of Rooms: 3 | Number of Players: 3-6 | Address: 141-145 Kentish Town Road, London, NW1 8PB | Book Mission: Breakout
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SHERLOCK: THE GAME IS NOW | Shepherd’s Bush
If you’ve ever wanted to live an episode of the BBC’s Sherlock, then this is the game for you. Fully licensed, with exclusively recorded cameos from Benedict Cumberbatch et al, the attention to detail in this multi-room experience is what bags it a place on our lost of the best escape rooms in London. The twists and turns of the plot can sometimes be a little hard to follow, but with fantastically varied puzzles from escape room veterans, Time Run, and creative content from Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis, it doesn’t take a detective to figure out why this experience is worth a try. Plus, there’s a bar at the end that even has its own mini cocktail puzzle experience, guaranteeing both the need for a stiff drink, and the drink itself.
Price: From £30pp | Number of Games: 1 | Number of Players: 4-6 (but you can play up to 5 teams concurrently) | Address: W12 Shopping Centre, Shepherd’s Bush Green, W12 8PP | Book Sherlock: The Game Is Now
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BREAKIN’ | Highbury & Islington
“All stories told have been told before. The only things new are the names.” This is certainly a maxim in play at Break In Escape Rooms, who have borrowed a whole host of well known tales and gently nudged them into an escape room format. They include:
Joker’s Trap
He’s a dark knight of sorts (but legally distinct from other Dark Knights) and you must help him solve the mad riddles and puzzles his deranged nemesis has set for you in an attempt to save Dark City.
Heist Plan
It’s furious and fast (but not the other way around) in this innovative room that pits you as a gang of street racers attempting a bank heist under the cover of an illegal street race. Classic bank robber’s dilemma though: your car’s broken and the AA is nowhere to be seen. So, in order to get the gold you’ll need to fix your engine and find your second car before the race begins.
The Butcher’s Lair
Dr Vladimir Knifesblade is educated. Articulate. A lover of the classics. And a serial killer. You’ve been invited to his dinner party, without realising that – alongside some fava beans and a nice chianti – you’re going to be the main course…
Wizarding School: Fang of the Serpent
With a storyline that magically appears on just the right side of the Harry Potter copyright, you and your team will face another year at wizarding school. This semester though the headmaster has summoned you to track down a precious artefact lost for decades in a chamber (but not of secrets) that is guarded by an actual monster which you’ll need to defeat in the process.
War on Horizon Alpha
This one’s set in a war that takes places among the stars. A kind of ‘stars war’ if you will. Needless to say, you are part of a plucky band of rebels who need to use your laser swords to help defeat the empire’s planet-destroying super weapon…
The Flying Dutchman
If you took a popular franchise that rhymed with “shmirates of the shmaribbean”, then added a deeply ironic story about the evils of piracy, you’ll get this. You’re on a ghostly shipwreck, and you’ll need to find a mythical diamond to break the curse before sunrise in order to escape…
Sherlock’s Despair
It doesn’t take a detective to figure out that Sherlock Holmes is out of copyright, and you – his oldest friend, and faithful assistant – need to help him to defeat his nemesis Moriarty, all from within the great detective’s office.
Price: £29-39pp | Number of Rooms: 7 | Number of Players: 2-6 | Address: 89 Holloway Road, N7 8LT | Book Breakin’ Escape Rooms
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ENIGMA QUESTS | Shoreditch & Holborn
Not just an escape room, these experiences are designed to be fully immersive missions where you have a limited time to execute your orders and complete the quest. They’ve got three challenges:
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
This Harry Potter-themed (sorry, nondescript British wizarding boy-themed) experience sees you trying to graduate from wizarding school in only an hour – magic time must operate on a faster scale than ours.
It’s a classic bank heist complete with locks, safes, briefcases, and most importantly, lasers. Mental and physical dexterity required here. Singing the Mission Impossible theme tune is optional.
A mysterious global corporation are threatening serious damage with a nuclear sub. It’s up to you to divert its course and save the entire planet.
HOLBORN
World of Witchcraft and Wizardry
So, you’ve graduated from wizarding school, but now you face something even more terrifying and sinister than any monster you met in the classroom: a job interview.
So, you’ve pulled off the million pound heist and now you’re ready to take things up a notch (sensing a theme here?). This brand new room features interconnected spaces and requires masterful delegation if you’re going to grab the painting in time.
Inventor’s Odyssey Through Time
You find yourselves in the workshop of an eccentric inventor, who didn’t have time to finish her invention but luckily had enough to put together a fiendish trail of puzzles and clues so that you can.
Price: £70+ | Number of Rooms: 3 in each location | Number of Players: 3-5 | Address: 2-12 Wilson Street, EC2M 7LS | 86 Fetter Lane, EC4A 1EQ | Book Enigma Quests
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ESCAPE ROOMS | London Bridge
A more traditional experience, Escape Rooms offers two rooms that mostly rely on the trusty old key, lock and code format. Over in London Bridge you can enter:
Pharaoh’s Chamber – A Cursed Tomb
Here, you’re exploring the ruins of an ancient Egyptian tomb. However this one has the added danger of trapping not just your body but your mortal soul to serve as the dead pharaoh’s bodyguard for all eternity, should you remain in there for more than 60 minutes.
Room 33
In Room 33 you’re a group of Qing dynasty guards who, after a few too many one night, let a priceless vase get stolen from under your very noses. The Emperor is not happy and it seems the simplest way to avoid immediate death is to time travel into the modern era and steal it back from the British Museum. This allows for some excellent Mission Impossible style laser dodging, before a solid escape room experience with a dash of post-colonial ethics to flavour.
Price: £26-38pp | Number of Rooms: 2 | Number of Players: 2-6 | Address: Rear of 134 Tooley Street, SE1 2TU | Book Escape Rooms
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OMESCAPE LONDON | Aldgate
This Aldgate venue is dedicated exclusively to virtual reality escape rooms. You’ll don a wireless headset and be given free roam around the virtual setting, interacting with your fellow players and objects in the floating digital realm. It’s all a surprisingly smooth experience, and room themes range from Indiana Jones and fantasy pirate ships to an apocalyptic future wasteland (probably brought about by humanity’s reliance on virtual reality) in which you’ll need to track down an infinite energy source called Huxley.
Price: £73.50+ | Number of Rooms: 4 | Number of Players: 2-6 (book 3+ to ensure you play only with the team you booked with) | Address: 75 Greenfield Road, E1 1EJ | Book Omescape
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NO ESCAPE | Oxford Street, Aldgate, Caledonian Road
If escape room logic is to believed, it would seem that a penchant for puzzles could allow you to escape any situation – but if school taught us anything, it’s those with physical prowess who get ahead. Of course, any real life escape would demand a concoction of both and this is where Enigma Escape comes in. Basing their games on realism, Enigma Escape try to create experiences that utilise common sense and logic rather than just puzzles, taking escape rooms out of the head and into the whole body. They’ve two games, both born from the same narrative world:
The Killer
You’ve scored tickets to the premiere of a new film; The Killer. Sweet. Don’t ask questions, just go along, grab as much free stuff as you can from the buffet, and find your seat. One hitch, nobody else is there and it looks like you’re the star. Spoiler alert – you’re getting killed unless you can get out.
The Darkest Hour
A bomb has been found in Winston Churchill’s private lounge, and the timer is ticking. History would suggest you were successful, but you’d better get a move on in case.
The Butcher
The butcher’s daughter has gone missing! And you’ve just stumbled on his secret second butcher’s workshop. They’re probably not connected. Probably.
The Haunted Toy Store
Strange stories are told about this village’s abandoned toy shop, and you’ve bravely volunteered to investigate. After all, it’s only going to be filled with possessed dolls, robotic teddy bears and laughing clowns.
The Dentist
You find yourself trapped in the clinic of one Dr. Basher, a dentist who is almost certainly behind a recent spate of serial murders. On the plus side, you could get that molar seen to first.
The Demon Barber
It’s the classic tale of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of… Oxford Street. You’ll need to expose Sweeney and his accomplice Mrs. Lovett before lunch hour’s up (at which point you become lunch).
Price: £40pp | Number of Rooms: 7 in 4 locations | Number of Players: 2-6 | Address: Unit 38, The Studios, 10 Hornsey Street, N7 8EL | 69 Commercial St, E1 6BD | 3rd Floor (above Food and Wine), 51 Oxford St, W1D 2EF | Book No Escape
HONOURABLE MENTION: THE CRYSTAL MAZE | Piccadilly
More like a dozen mini solo escape rooms combined into one, The Crystal Maze is perfect if you want to break up the relentless tension of an hour-long experience. This live recreation of the 90s gameshow perfectly combines puzzling with charismatic maze masters; big-budget sets and the opportunity to laugh at hapless members of your team spinning around on big plastic planets.
Price: From £62pp | Number of games: 1 experience, with multiple rooms | Number of Players: 4-8 | Address: 22-32 Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Circus, W1D 7EU | Book The Crystal Maze
Looking for an escape from the city? Take a peek at these easy day trips from London