Ever struggled to make the huge decision between a night out filled with cocktails, or a night in spent gaming, eating and chilling? With a visit to gaming bar Platform, you get the best of both worlds. The laid-back venue boasts multiplayer and solo booths, a custom-built esports stage, and a plethora of the latest gaming consoles, loaded with retro games.
Many activity-led bars claim to be perfect for team building, so here at Secret London, we put this to the test. Although Platform has recently opened a huge venue in Canary Wharf, our editorial crew instead ventured to the (closer) OG site in Shoreditch.
Team building
Upon arrival, we were shown to two booths by a friendly staff member, who ran us through how to adjust between the different consoles (Nintendos and Playstations) and generally get things going. I’ll be honest, our first challenge was taking her advice and actually starting a game; as group of gaming novices, we were all a little hopeless. However, Platform’s ethos to make gaming accessible to all levels of gamer meant we didn’t feel too bad about it. You get 90 minutes in the gaming booth, so plenty time for us to refine our skills.
Platform offer a plethora of retro and contemporary games: from Fifa to Fortnite, Just Dance to Mario Kart and Mario Party, there’s something for every taste. We kicked things off with a few rounds of Mario Kart. Normally, we work pretty cohesively as a team, but it was interesting to see our competitive sides coming out. Choose wisely between offering encouraging words, or yelling “what are you doing?!” at your manager; at just one cocktail in initially, we opted for the former. We tried out a few of the other games too (Nintendo Sports and Mario Party to name just two), and found there to be a good selection of games.
The food and drink at Platform
At Platform, fuel your competitive spirit with wood-fired pizzas, delivered straight to your booth. There is a selection of aptly named pizzas, inspired by specific games; the venue caters for different dietary requirements too. The gluten-free pizza for our Executive Editor went down very well, and I was pleased to see a cheeseless number (don’t judge me!!) on the regular menu. The chocobo and chorizo seemed to be the main favourite amongst the group.
Now, a key part of team bonding is the drinks, right? This gaming bar does not disappoint: Platform offers a selection of cocktails named after levels and characters in well known games, plus some (regularly named) beers too. We, of course, had to taste a selection to make it a fair review.
Our Project Manager noted, “the general consensus on our booth was the Rainbow Road cocktail was the tastiest”, while our Branded Content Creator refuted “The Any Last Words cocktail looked as ominous as the name sounds, but was actually pretty tasty.” Our Executive Editor, who isn’t a fan of whiskey, seriously enjoyed her whiskey-based Moonrider. I want to disregard them all and say my favourite was Dante’s Inferno: a twist on a spicy margarita. Hey, as you can see, the drinks were a winner all round.
So, it’s clear: Secret London can confirm Platform is great for team building. Their drinks get a special shout out from us, but as our Senior SEO Writer noted, a visit to Platform gaming bar ticks all the right boxes – and the staff are friendly to boot. Maybe our next team bonding will be at the bigger Canary Wharf spot, where we’ll finally agree on the official Secret London recommended cocktail…