Birmingham Overnight

Your weekend, day by day

1. 1

   Day 1

   

   Guided bar crawl

   From about 20:30 · 4 hours

   Arrival day. Travel in and check in; the evening is the guided bar crawl: a run of bars with the guide handling the doors, finishing at a club. Broad Street doors are used to large groups. Dress for the last venue: no sportswear.

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   Guided crawls in Birmingham start in the centre around Temple Street at 7pm and finish at 11pm, taking in three or four bars and ending with club entry. Photo ID is essential, fancy dress is refused and doors turn away anyone who has had too much. If you would rather go without a guide, self-led routes start on Bromsgrove Street and the itinerary arrives a week before, with four or five bars a night. Nightlife passes cover Friday and Saturday from 9pm.

   You meet the guide at a fixed point and move through a run of bars across the evening, usually four or five, finishing at a club. The guide knows the doors, so you skip the queue and the group is not turned away for being too large.

   Most crawls include a welcome drink or a shot at each stop, and entry to the final venue. The rest is on you. Groups from several bookings are often merged, which some stags like and some do not, so ask whether yours is private.

   Dress code is the club's, not the guide's. No trainers and no sportswear at the last venue, and matching shirts get refused at some doors.

   

   Activity bar (games, darts, shuffleboard)

   From about 15:00 · 2 hours

   The daytime activity, if the group picks the activity bar: a reserved booth for a set block of time, with digital darts or shuffleboard and the screens keeping score. Drinks are ordered at the table. A good warm-up before the crawl.

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   Birmingham's games bars sit at Five Ways at the top of Broad Street, on Victoria Square, on Heath Mill Lane in Digbeth and inside the Bullring. The common stag format is two hours with two games chosen from pool, shuffleboard, electronic darts, beer pong, karaoke and axe throwing, plus two drinks each and a host. Daytime slots run hourly from midday to 6pm at the bigger venues. Table-gaming packages suit groups of eight to twenty. Axe throwing usually carries a supplement, so check it is included before you choose it.

   You get a reserved area for a set block of time, with the games on your table or lane and someone on hand to explain the scoring. Most venues run digital darts, shuffleboard, beer pong or a mix of all three, and the screens keep score so nobody argues.

   Drinks and food are ordered at the table. Some venues include a drink or a platter in the booking, others put it on a tab. Check which you have before you arrive so the money side is settled.

   No kit needed. Wear what you would wear to the pub. Trainers are fine.

2. 2

   Day 2

   

   Add-on

   Bowling, darts & pool

   From about 12:00 · 1 hour

   Departure day. If the group picks bowling and darts, lanes or oches are reserved for a block of time, with automatic scoring and a bar alongside: a low-effort way to finish before the journey home.

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   Ten-pin bowling for groups is easiest in the Bullring, right in the centre, where lanes are reserved for you and a welcome drink is included. Each player gets roughly a ten-minute turn rather than a full game, which keeps a large group moving. Groups of six to 28 can be handled in one booking, and it is over-18s only. Being central, it fits as a short first stop before dinner or a Broad Street night, with no transport to arrange.

   You book a set number of lanes or oches for an hour or two and play through a scored league or a knockout. Scoring is automatic, shoes are handed over at the desk and the staff will set up a group format if you ask.

   It is low effort, indoors and cheap to add drinks to, which is why it survives on almost every weekend. Nobody needs to be good at it and nobody gets hurt.

   Socks are needed for bowling. Beyond that, wear what you like.