London


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-vibe">THE VIBE</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Pool-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-10014" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Pool-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Pool-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Pool-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Pool.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>Pub sports are undeniably <em>in</em>, and <a href="https://www.thebatandball.com/locations/covent-garden" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bat &amp; Ball</a> is right at the cutting edge of the boozy parlour game renaissance. This neon-lit, nightclubby bar is brand new to Covent Garden and already drawing in the hipsters in their hoards.</p>



<p>Bat &amp; Ball is one of a number of new bar chains combining pub games with good music, hip surroundings and quality food and drinks, and Londoners are loving it. Activities like pool, darts, shuffleboard and table tennis are bookable by the hour, so you can avoid any sharp-elbowing to get a game at the pool table, and the facilities are box-fresh and impeccably maintained (so no excuses).</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_A_PingPong-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-10015" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_A_PingPong-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_A_PingPong-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_A_PingPong-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_A_PingPong.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>As for your fellow players, expect smartly-dressed young professionals, from the hopelessly uncoordinated (guilty) to the awkward men pretending that they didn&#8217;t spend their entire time at university playing pool. If you&#8217;re anything like me, you&#8217;ll be closer to the not-much-talent, lots-of-alcohol end of the spectrum.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Food_Hero-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-10013" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Food_Hero-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Food_Hero-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Food_Hero-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Food_Hero.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>Speaking of, they serve a variety of draft beers and wines, plus a handsome cocktail menu (£10-12) and a healthily selection of spirits (14 gins enough to choose from?). Food includes pizzas, burgers, wings and loaded fries &#8211; get in.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-lowdown">THE LOWDOWN</h2>



<p>Step through the door and you stumble straight onto hole one of a nine-hole mini-golf course with all the secret tubes and loop-the-loops you could ask for. Hit it in here, it pops out there, and so on &#8211; one hole even spans both of the bar&#8217;s two floors. It&#8217;s pitched at a good level, engaging without being too tricky. Okay we did hit double figures on one or two of the holes, but who&#8217;s counting?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/joshua-coleman-cBktmcs7o6g-unsplash-1024x683.jpg" alt="Bat and Ball Covent Garden shuffleboard" class="wp-image-10017" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/joshua-coleman-cBktmcs7o6g-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/joshua-coleman-cBktmcs7o6g-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/joshua-coleman-cBktmcs7o6g-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/joshua-coleman-cBktmcs7o6g-unsplash.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Shuffleboard (Joshua Coleman via Unsplash)</figcaption></figure>



<p>Downstairs is where the games really get going. There are two shuffleboards, the latest upmarket pub game fad that&#8217;s a bit like curling but smaller and without the ice or the furious scrubbing.</p>



<p>Around the outside are the interactive darts boards &#8211; real boards, real darts, using mysterious technology that knows what you&#8217;ve thrown and does all the counting for you. There&#8217;s a variety of mini games to play which are displayed on the screen next to the board, so you&#8217;re not bound by chalk, mental maths and endless 501s. Darts is a lot more fun that way, as it turns out.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Darts-1024x683.jpg" alt="Bat and Ball Covent Garden interactive darts" class="wp-image-10016" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Darts-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Darts-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Darts-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/BatandBall_Games_Darts.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>Besides that, there&#8217;s a couple of pool and table tennis tables, two big bars, lots of seating for when you&#8217;re spent, and even some private karaoke rooms in the back. There are live DJ sets every weekend, so your hardcore shuffleboard session can end in a hardcore shuffle. As all the best ones do.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-out-and-about">OUT AND ABOUT</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/tania-mousinho-XQOLc-ztLoM-unsplash-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-10019" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/tania-mousinho-XQOLc-ztLoM-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/tania-mousinho-XQOLc-ztLoM-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/tania-mousinho-XQOLc-ztLoM-unsplash-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/tania-mousinho-XQOLc-ztLoM-unsplash.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>With Soho, Bloomsbury, Leicester Square and the West End all within skipping distance, there&#8217;s no shortage of things to do. If you&#8217;re liking the young glossy-hip vibe, hop across the road to <a href="https://www.sevendialsmarket.com/">Seven Dials Market</a> to browse street food spots, grab a cocktail and sit in the buzzy communal area downstairs amid the cream of London hipsters. Pub purists, head down to the <a href="https://www.thenellgwynne.com/">Nell Gwynne</a> for a particularly crisp Guinness in an atmospheric alleyway off the Strand, or up to Holborn for a slice of history at the <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/VYfexGXzyupQgBnLA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cittie of York</a>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/sevendials.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-10020" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/sevendials.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/sevendials-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/sevendials-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/sevendials-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/sevendials-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Instagram @sevendialsmkt</figcaption></figure>



<p>You&#8217;re in a cultural hotspot, so you could nip in for some childlike mindlessness either side of cultural enrichment at the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Royal Opera House or any of the swathe of theatres nearby. Or stagger in with your shopping bags after a spree in <a href="https://www.coventgarden.london/shop/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Covent Garden</a>: designers up the wazoo, high street classics, and the brand-new <a href="https://stores.charlottetilbury.com/uk/greater-london/london/1-james-street" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Charlotte Tilbury</a> flagship store &#8211; oh, go on then.</p>



<p><em><a href="https://www.thebatandball.com/locations/covent-garden" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bat &amp; Ball Covent Garden</a> is now open, 50 Earlham St, London WC2H 9LJ, book <a href="https://www.thebatandball.com/bookings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</em></p>


Review: Bat & Ball, Covent Garden

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