Great escape challenges offer a novel night out
Rooms set teams a series of puzzles and codes to crack
A new attraction is proving popular with visitors to Maidstone town centre who fancy a night out with a twist.
Escape Hub, in Royal Star Arcade, gives participants the opportunity to exercise their brains rather than their drinking arms as they team up with friends to solve clues, crack codes and tackle puzzles in themed rooms.
It’s the brainchild of 21-year-old marketing student Alex Smitherman who has been splitting his week between London’s University of Roehampton and his home town of Maidstone.
The former Cornwallis pupil, of Loose, said: “I’ve been to about 10 similar projects across the country and really enjoyed them. I thought it offered something different for Maidstone and since opening at the start of the year it’s proved really popular.
“We had two rooms and we’re in the process of building a third. We’re hoping to expand into the old Grinning Demon comic book shop which closed a few months ago so eventually we’ll have four or five rooms. I’m learning as I go and every room I write seems to get better.
“There’s a few similar escape rooms in Kent but we’re all independent and we all help each other and recommend different ones to visitors.”
He added he hopes to open a second escape hub in London next year.
There are two rooms at the moment. In Agents Undetected, guests are given a brief from a superior and have to break into the office of a known mole to steal a list of compromised operatives.
The Laughing Lair is a room where participants kidnapped by the ‘Prince of Crime’ must escape.
A Second World War themed room will open in spring after visitors to the company’s website escapehub.co.uk voted for it.
Each room can be booked by two to six people for £12.50 each.