The 8 best team-building activities in London

Crazy golf is a long-established, failsafe way to get the team together outside the office. At Swingers West End, you can cheer your workmates on across nine holes on one of two wacky courses – the Helter Skelter or Big Wheel. In between games you can munch on street food from the likes of Patty&Bun, Pizza Pilgrims and Breddos, grab a funky cocktail and discuss all the office gossip on a scenic, heated roof terrace. 

See the rest of London’s best crazy-golf here. 

Escape rooms may be the ultimate team-building exercise. You’re all working towards a shared goal of getting the hell out of whatever themed chamber you’ve been locked up in. For a true test of your work bonds and problem-solving skills, book a group excursion to The Crystal Maze. Painstakingly reconstructed sets from the original cult TV series make you really feel like you’re on the show itself, bomber jacket and all. You can do a full maze takeover of up to 100 people or opt for one of the smaller packages for groups of up to 64. 

Explore more of London’s best escape rooms here. 

If you’ve got some work-related rage to release, may we suggest (safely) lobbing an axe at a wall? With corporate packages for up to 60 people, at Axeperience, you’ll have an instructor by your side to show you how to ‘channel your inner viking’. Of course, you don’t have to be harbouring a deep grudge towards your manager to enjoy flinging a cleaver towards a target – it’s a great, cathartic way to simply let off some steam and bond with colleagues beyond your desks. For obvious reasons, all the drinks on offer are non-alcoholic. 

With branches in Brick Lane, Holborn, Stratford and White City, wherever your office sits, it’s likely you’ve got an All Star Lanes nearby. So, consider some retro ten-pin bowling for your next all-team outing. Most of All Star venues have a ’50s Americana style, but its Westfield London site has gone for a more chic and contemporary Miami-come-art-deco vibe. Between turns, there a plenty of bites to nibble and creative cocktails to sip on. 

Discover more of London’s brilliant bowling alleys here. 

The millenials and Gen Z’s of the office can bond over shared nostalgia at NQ64, a bar in Soho full of classic consoles and vintage arcade games like Mario Kart, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Guitar Hero and Dance Stage. While you hop from game to game, sip on themed cocktails like the Crash Bandicoot-inspired ‘Aku Aku Fruit Punch’ and a Super Mario-inspired ‘Power Star Martini’. 

There’s just something about aiming sharp objects at a wall, eh? If you don’t fancy your team handling huge axes, try dart-throwing at  Flight Club instead. Take part in a team tournament, led by a proper Gamesmaster, to earn medals and get ultimate office bragging rights. If the darts isn’t enough to lure you in, how about the food? There are burgers, pizza paddles made for sharing and fancier small plates like butternut squash, feta and coriander arancini or tuna tataki with wasabi, tenderstem broccoli, soy, lime and mirin. 

There’s surely no better way to get closer to your colleagues than belting out NSYNC, ABBA or Whitney together at the top of your lungs. And the private pods at Lucky Voice mean you don’t have to subject anyone else to your vocals. Its branches in Soho, Holborn, Islington, Liverpool Street and Waterloo all have nearly a million songs to pick from, so you can’t hide – there will definitely be a tune you know the words to. Make your pick wisely, you may never be able to live it down.

One third of our lives are spent at work, apparently. And that means it’s highly likely that you see your colleagues’ faces more often than anyone else in your life. So, for your next social, head to Sandbox VR, put on some chunky goggles and hang out with your colleagues in virtual reality as Squid Game participants, armoured zombie fighters or treasure-hunting pirates instead. Don’t worry about a long wait for drinks post-game, Toni the bartender (two automaton arms) can whip up as many as 80 drinks an hour.