Bounce, Farringdon

By Clo Hutch @lashesoflife

Ping pong. A sport I always tried to be good at – I even joined an after-school table tennis club at school, yes I was that cool! – yet, let’s be honest I definitely need some improvement. 

Alex and I went on holiday a couple of years ago, and loving a game or two of whatever they have about, mini golf, arcade games, pool, we tried a match on the ping pong table. I think the word ‘Frustration’ didn’t quite cut it for how Alex was feeling! But as my little brother was coming to visit, and I found out that he didn’t like dancing (how? I love dancing!), I wanted to book something different, something I’d never done in London, and something he wouldn’t find at home. So I booked a table at Bounce, the home of Ping Pong in London. The bar downstairs and people getting started on the ping pong tables. How nice does it look inside?! I booked on Wednesday, and luckily they managed to squeeze me in at Farringdon for 7.30pm on the Friday. (All other times before 10pm were fully booked, so definitely book well in advance if you can!). We arrived a tad early, so grabbed a round at the bar – beer and cider are pretty reasonably priced! – and headed back up to the reception to be taken to our table. Being left with a bucket of ping pong balls and four bats, we were off! Paired off, we started off slowly, warming up, before keeping score. The boys were really good (do they have better hand eye coordination than girls?), showing off their skills, whilst Lucy and I concentrated on actually hitting the ball and keeping it on the table – I’m often way too heavy handed! Look at my concentrationI must have been super happy about that set😛 It was so much fun! We kept switching pairs and who was playing, so we all got the most out of the hour session. Ooo the concentration…My little brother was pretty good!Everyone moved so fast, a lot of my photos came out slightly blurry hahaMore concentration! There were so many ping pong tables down in the bar, and everyone was losing balls left, right and center as they went out of play. It’s a crazy game! But everyone was really understanding about the balls flying everywhere.  Alex when his ping pong ball flew off..haha We managed to fit in another round from the bar, and before long our hour was up. It felt like it flew by! It was great to do something different on a Friday evening, and we all really enjoyed it! You have to have a minimum of 6 people when booking tables for peak times, and as the table is £28 for an hour, it works out at less than £5 per person! I think next time, we’ll be booking two hours! There definitely will be a next time! Have you been before? What’s your favorite thing to do on a Friday night? Chloe xx