Brighton Overnight

Your weekend, day by day

1. 1

   Day 1

   

   Guided bar crawl

   From about 20:30 · 4.5 hours

   The guided bar crawl through the Lanes in the evening: meet the guide at a fixed point and work through a run of small independent bars, with the doors handled. Dress for any late venue: no sportswear.

   More about this+

   Most Brighton crawls meet at Castle Square at about 7:30pm and run four to five hours, typically four bars and then a club. Bring a passport or driving licence, as screenshots are not accepted. Dress is smart casual, and some routes refuse tracksuits, beachwear, vests, flip-flops and shorts. It is all on foot, so wear shoes you can walk in. Another route starts on Preston Street, finishes at 11pm and bans fancy dress, and one crawl stays entirely within the Lanes, which keeps the walking short. Doors refuse anyone who has had too much, so pace the early rounds.

   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.

   

   Add-on

   Escape room

   From about 14:00 · 42 minutes

   Arrival day. If the group picks the escape room, it runs in the afternoon: split across themed rooms running side by side, with around 40 minutes on the clock at the main venue, racing each other to get out. Some rooms allow drinks inside, so check when booking.

   More about this+

   Brighton has two main clusters. A coffee house on London Road hides rooms in an old bank vault and an attic, with 40 minutes to escape, up to seven or eight per room, drinks allowed inside and slots until about 9:45pm at weekends. Another operator runs city-themed rooms on Upper North Street and Trafalgar Lane, taking groups of six to 56 at once, with Saturday availability. A stag group is split across rooms running at the same time or one after another, so compare start times when you book.

   You are briefed, shut in and given sixty minutes. The puzzles are physical and logical rather than knowledge-based, and a games master watches on camera and drops hints when you are stuck. Most rooms have a clear story and a timer on the wall.

   A whole stag group will not fit in one room, so you are split across two or three and race each other. That usually turns out better than everyone in one space shouting over each other.

   Nothing special to wear. Rooms are strict about drinking beforehand, so do it early in the day.

2. 2

   Day 2

   

   Bubble football & human table football

   From about 12:00 · 2 hours

   Departure day. If the group picks bubble football, it is five-a-side inside inflatable zorbs in short refereed matches. Sportswear and trainers, no studs, and empty pockets. Allow for the journey home afterwards.

   More about this+

   Brighton's bubble football usually runs at a leisure centre on Falmer Road or at a gym on Manor Road, with the final venue confirmed around two weeks ahead, so build in travel time from the seafront. Sessions last an hour, and you should arrive 15 minutes early. Wear trainers and a T-shirt; football boots and bare chests are not allowed, and the limits are 6ft 5in and 22 stone. The double session, one hour of bubble football and one of beer-goggle football, is played on an outdoor 3G pitch, so bring a layer.

   In bubble football you climb into an inflatable zorb that covers you from the knees up, then play five-a-side. Most of the game is flattening each other, and the ball is close to an afterthought. Referees run short matches with breaks, because it is hot inside the bubble.

   Human table football straps the teams to horizontal bars in an inflatable pitch, so you can only move sideways. It is less physical and better for a mixed-fitness group.

   Sportswear and trainers, no boots with studs. Empty your pockets and leave watches and glasses with the kit bag.