Inception Group embraces competitive socialising
Mr Fogg’s Games Parlour at the brand’s City Tavern near London’s Liverpool Street will be Inception Group’s first foray into competitive socialising when it opens this spring.
The gaming venue will take over the lower-ground floor of the 5,000-square-foot site and feature six gaming booths in a ‘typically traditional’ Mr Fogg’s style.
Each booth accommodates up to eight players for 80 minutes and offers six different games. Each game has been ‘Victorian-ised’, taking inspiration from darts, mini golf, parlour quoits, beer pong, shuffle puck and bagatelle.
Inception described the game format as ‘an Olympic-style pentathlon but for pub games’, with each player needing to be an ‘all-rounder’ rather than a specialist in one game.
The Games Parlour bar will offer the same menu as Mr Fogg’s Tavern, including draught beers, signature Punches, cocktails and bar snacks.
Inception Group co-founder Charlie Gilkes said: “For hundreds of years, people have been playing games in public houses across the UK, so it feels only fitting that we’ve found a way to revive traditional Victorian parlour games and combine them with more modern favourites in order to create a fitting selection of 21st-century pub games.
“We’ve seen the rise in popularity of competitive socialising concepts over recent years and knew that, if we entered the space, we would want to create something distinctly different from what’s already out there. We’ve spent nearly 24 months testing our unique gaming concept and we’re incredibly excited to be finally revealing it to our Mr Fogg’s customers.
“True to our Victorian backstory, the experience is deliberately analogue rather than digital. There’s something wonderfully simplistic about marking your own score on a chalkboard.”
Competitive socialising venues have been one of the few winners in UK hospitality in recent years, with CGA by NIQ highlighting the sector as one that drinkers are willing to spend money on.
In 2025, Gresham House Ventures invested £4 million (US$5.43m) in competitive socialising brand Spinners. However, in January this year, cricket-themed Sixes went into administration.
Inception is also planning to open a flagship Mr Fogg’s Tavern in Covent Garden’s historic Market Building this year.
The group predicted its 2025 sales would break records by exceeding £30m (US$40.3m) for the first time.
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