To celebrate a successful half year and one of the hottest Summers on record, two of our Project Managers organised the 2018 Summer Social - this time in our capital city, London.
Keeping the itinerary a closely guarded secret, we followed the only instructions - to meet for a coffee and pastry at a coffee shop on the South Bank at 9am. Once the troops had been rallied, we made our way to the first undisclosed destination - London Eye Pier - to board our Thames Rockets speedboat. Our guide (picked from London’s comedy circuit) gave hilarious commentary as we took an exhilarating ride past the capital’s landmarks such as Big Ben, Tower of London and Shakespeare’s Globe.
Not long back on land, next on the agenda was another water-based activity. We boarded a canal boat courtesy of Hidden Depths Canal Cruises at Kings Cross and set sail down Regent’s Canal to enjoy the scenic views of Islington with a picnic lunch, healthy supply of fizz and a few disco hits.
Our next surprise was a cycling tour of London. But not any cycle - a Pedibus! A mobile platform, powered by 8 enthusiastic ‘pedallers’, while the rest of the team served drinks, flicked through the playlist and waved at passers-by. Never has a group of 12 had so much fun on London’s roads in traffic – or worked up such a sweat!
With aching thighs, we stumbled onto the our next stop - The London Shuffle Club in Shoreditch. Surrounded by East London hipsters and armed with jugs of cocktails, we split into teams and got competitive over a game of Shuffle Board: pushing/sliding coloured discs into the highest scoring area on the triangular grid on the floor. A simple concept, easy for anyone to play.
Fresh from triumph or defeat, we dined at Instagram hotspot Rascals – a pink paradise on Curtain Road with cocktails named after the current set of celebrity supermodels and a menu bursting with Smoky American inspired dishes and vegan options. A huge thank-you to the team at Rascals for their generous hospitality and fantastic service.
After dinner, we slipped through the back door of the restaurant straight into the Millennial haven, Ballie Ballerson. We drank confectionary inspired cocktails, such as the ‘Dibbie Dabberson’ (complete with a sherbert topping and lollipop on top), and reverted to our inner child in our very own private ball pool. Plastic fantastic!
So there’s the challenge. Can you pack more into 13 hours in London? Tell us how and share your hot spots. In the meantime we’ll keep researching and make sure we’ve got the best options to hand for our client’s parties, team events, product launches and experiential activities. It’s a hard life.
