Arts

Festibowl Review

Bowl up bowl up!!! Summer in London is here and what better way to spend an afternoon/evening then on the lawn playing bowls. Festibowl aims to provide a fast-paced version of bowls in a festival atmosphere.The target is to lower the average age of lawn bowls from over 70 to less than 40. Finsbury Square is the oldest bowling green in the UK and is the perfect location for some bowls with a beer.

Festibowl’s done an excellent job with the location and the set out of the venue. Nominal bar and food vendorskeeps the venue simple and lets you focus on the true star, the lawn bowls rink. The area divides into 6 lanes with each having 8 bowls in total (4 for each team). The aim of the game is to roll the bowl as close to the jack as possible. Closest at the end of the round gets a point for their team and it is the first team to 4 that wins the game. This is lots of fun in a group as you laugh and dance to the DJ tunes.

A simple bar menu is provides beers, wines, spirits and cocktails to enjoy in one hand with a bowl in the other. The two food vendors are Truffle London and ChalanaMarket. Truffle has a burger, steak and vegetarian option of Wild Mushroom Arancini. Chalana Market provides wraps of steak, pulled pork or haloumi. I had the Beef & Smoked Bacon Burger, Fig Jam, Raclette Cheese, Crispy Shallots and Truffle Mayonnaise with chips from Truffle. It was one of the best burgers I have ever had with the perfect combinations of flavours mixed together.

Festibowl do private events from 2-11pm on Thursday and 2-6pm on a Friday. The rest of the evening (6-11pm) on Friday is for public team bowls. This event is perfect for a company social in the summer months with the long evenings of sunlight. It also gives the option to play a quick game then relax on the grass with some food and drink. I am considering this exact thing for my company social.

Festibowl runs from 14th June right through to 3rdAugust. So, get down an enjoy some fun in the sun in this ideal summer setting. Bowl on!

Website: https://www.festibowl.co.uk/

Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1RR.

Twitter: @FestibowlLDN

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FestibowlLDN/

Instagram: @festibowlldn

Written by Daniel Brodie

© Photography by Jake Davis (fb.com/hungryvisuals)