When I started this list I thought I'd at least get further than 54 days through before I ended up in prison.
With Jeffrey Che Joib Mensah
I first met Jeffrey when we were both going to Brussels to work on the same event. The company had booked us seats next to each other on the Eurostar which could have been awkward if we weren't both talkers. I don't remember much about what we spoke about other than the fact that Jeffrey was impeccably dressed in a camel wool coat and at one point in the journey described himself as 'tropical' and I knew we'd be friends forever. I thought taking him to this would be funny as he's a part-time copper.
When I heard about Alcotraz, the prison themed cocktail bar, I was a mix of intrigued and sceptical, the latter because these things can end up being pretty terrible if they're not done well and suddenly you find yourself drinking a naff cocktail in even naffer surroundings. From the minute we walked in and were handed our orange boiler suits and inducted by the prison wardens I could tell it was going to be a giggle.
We had been told to bring a bottle of drink and the long-serving prisoners would make us cocktails with it. Our rum was shoved inside a bible and handed back to us so it wouldn't be spotted.
We absolutely loved it for 4 main reasons:
The actors were brilliant:
The prison wardens and the big boss man were fantastic characters, true to their parts throughout and really helped us to get into it. They gave each cell a little chunk of their time here and there to make sure we had a brilliant experience.
The attention to detail was spot on:
Little posters and artefacts on the cell walls made it feel like you were in a cell that had seen a lot of people come and go. We were given little release cards to fill in and keep which was a nice touch.
The cocktails were properly delicious:
Having only given them one spirit to work with we were impressed that they managed to make 4 really yummy cocktails for us in the time we had there. We had 1/4 of a bottle left to take home with us. I was really relieved that the theming of the place hadn't meant the cocktails were a let down.
We were given a decent amount of time to do everything:
To say we were in prison and they really could have used that theme to make us move quickly through the process they never rushed us, we had time to do everything that was offered and the team made sure each group got to experience all the different elements.
I would highly recommend it as a good fun start to a night out or for a group celebration. We didn't stop giggling all night.
You can buy tickets here.
'Life is for living, because when it's all said and done you don't remember the time you spent in your office or sat at home watching tv, you remember the new experiences you had. YOLO.' Jeffrey.