As someone who loves cocktails and puzzles, after hearing about The Bletchley and their ‘Escape Room meets cocktail bar’ theme, I was definitely eager to find out more. Alas I could not be assigned for my deployment, as there was no space at the super popular pop-up (a waiting list of 5000+ before even opening!). Fortunately, The Bletchley found a more permanent home, so I was ready to be called for code-breaking duty.
The Bletchley is a specialised World War 2 themed bar, inspired by the code-breaker and pioneer Alan Turing, and the famous Enigma machines. The Bletchley invites guests to spend 2 hours in the bar decode and decrypt the puzzles to radio messages to the bartenders, who will create customised cocktails dependent on your personal smell and taste choices.
We arrived in the small basement area and are transported into the era in a room with wires all over the place, Engima machines and newspaper articles and various codes covering the walls. While waiting for our table, we were given shots to the start the night (one of our group funnily commented it was like alcoholic Lucozade orange!) and asked about any specific allergies or preferences. Adding to the immersive experience, once arriving at our table each person had an army jacket to wear.
We were greeted by an arm officer (really our host/waiter/waitress) who provided us with our first cocktail of the night. The first cocktail was the same for everyone and given it was Christmas themed night, definitely had some mulled wine in it!
Our first mission to obtain our first unique cocktail (second overall) involved solving clues and using the Enigma machines to get into a locked box. This is where we ran into some issues, because out Enigma machine on the wall was extremely temperamental. Fortunately, they do have some spares around that they can bring. Once we solved the clues, in the box there were containers for us to smell and taste flavours, that we would select for inclusion in our specific cocktails.
The next mission involved selecting a country, inputting various codes on the Enigma machines, which lead us to selecting ingredients from the code book and then radioing our secret messages to base (the waiter/waitress)!
In both instances, this is where you do have to be open because although you have an idea of the what may be included, no-one except the bartenders know exactly what is in the cocktails. There are no menus at the The Bletchley, so the cocktails can be quite unique as it is all dependent on what the customer wants.
Our groups cocktails were unique and luckily all were delicious, but I can definitely see how there can be other cocktails where the balance is not ideal (but this can happen even when you know all the ingredients).
I will say the experience now is slightly different from the pop-up and some elements are missing, which I would have enjoyed seeing (such as the wax-sealed letters to the agents with drink ingredients.
The Bletchley is about the experience as well as the drinks. Overall, a experience that I would recommend to people looking for something a little bit different from the usual night out.
Head to their website to find out more information and book: The Bletchley.
