Digbeth continues to be the more popular venue for people to head to on nights out in Birmingham and it will not be changing any time soon – especially with the opening of The Floodgate (opening Friday 1st November) on Floodgate Street.
We headed along last night to check out what is on offer and I am happy to say – LOTS!
If you are looking for a venue where you can compete against friends, partners, family… at activities like Bleachers baseball batting cages (I got 12/19 whoop!), Pit Pat golf (I lost by 1 point) and Curl Club curling lanes (I lost quite substantially), drink some great cocktails, spirits and beers and eat some (very) delicious street food from the likes of Home Run Pizza Company, The Cookie Mumsters, Thats Mature Toasties and Phata Phat Food, then this really is the venue for you.
We entered the venue shortly after 6pm, and were happy to see we were one of the first people there (always an aim of ours as it means we can grab some pictures, minus people in).
As you enter, there’s an area where you can book your games, sign in (including a very comical waiver if you are playing baseball – do make sure you read it) and then you head on through into the main doors.
Straight ahead are some booths and the baseball cages, and to the left, the largest bar full of various drinks and the friendliest and most helpful bar staff I have met in a long time.
If you turn right at the bar, you see doors which lead you outside to the Street Food area. Grab your food and head back indoors to eat and watch the games.
We tried 3 out of the 4 current vendors.
Home Run Pizza Company: I had the Hulk Pizza, made with semolina, giving it a green dough base and topped with plenty of delicious tomato paste and cheese. There’s no scrimping on the toppings here.
Hubby had the Three Little Piggies pizza with three different pork toppings on, Pepperoni, Chorizo and Ham. And he really enjoyed it.
That’s Mature Toasties: We tried some veey tasty toasties. The ham and cheese being my favourite. They were so tasty I seem to have eaten it all before taking a photo – epic fail. Sorry folks.
Phata Phat Food: Masala Chips with Butter Chicken, which was so delicious.
The Cookie Mumsters looked absolutely amazing but neither of us could fit any more food in. But will try them the next time we head on over – and we will, as we really enjoyed the evening.
To the left of the entrance to the Street Food is a ‘Pitch Please!!’ sign which to the right of, you find a corridor painted in graffiti, leading you to the Curling Lanes room and then the Pit Pat Golf room.
The Curling Lanes was where we started our night.
Neither of us had played before. It is £25 for a 30 minute slot. I was yellows, hubby was reds. And we played, the first person to win 5 rounds was the winner. Hubby got to 5 first, I was still on 3 wins when he won. It is a game of skill. You have to try to slide the stones to the bullseye (target area). With 4 stones each per game, you have to be careful where you send them, in case your opponent knocks you out of your place.
Beachers Baseball Cages were where we headed next. This is actually harder than it looks, although I definitely warmed up on my second go. This is £25 for a 25 minute cage hire. Or £50 for a 55 minute hire (I would recommend the latter for groups of 3 or more people, but 25 minutes was sufficient enough for us two).
19 balls (18 of them being yellow), fly out of a hole in the wall and you score a point for each one that you hit. The 19th ball is pink to highlight the last ball of your go.
You wear a helmet and hold a baseball bat and swing as much or as little as you want. You just need to get that ball to hit your bat.
First round saw me and hubby get 4 each. So we went for another round. Hubby got 6 and I got 12! Whoop!
I think this was my favourite game, but that could be bias as it was the only one that I won at. Ha!
Pit Pat Golf is one of those WOW rooms. Walls full of neon painted pictures. Old classics including Rugrats, Mr Potato Head, Chucky… The list goes on. That is half of the fun in this room. What can you spot on the walls?
This game is £10 per person. You get a metal snooker cue per team and a neon golf ball each, a neon pencil and white paper that glows in the room and get to work. We capped our goes off at 9, if we hadn’t completed it in 9 goes we moved on and scored 9 for that hole. There were 2 that this happened on. I think it was number 5 that we found the hardest, we just couldn’t make the shelf tilt with our balls on.
I liked the monochrome room too. Maybe because I did well on that section.
There were some really quirky tables and we found it good fun.
We both recommend The Floodgate as a place to meet up with friends, head on a date night, have a work nights out or celebrate a birthday.
It opens on Friday but you can book your slot to play, online now https://www.thefloodgate.co.uk/
You can find opening times and more details on The Floodgate website too, including links to their social media accounts to whet your appetite.
Thanks for having us Floodgate. We look forward to coming back again in the future.
1 thought on “The Floodgate”