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Review: Colchester’s No Name Bar proves a great night of fun
Colchester’s No Name Bar and Games has been open in Long Wyre Street for a few weeks now and is drawing in crowds every day.
The venue is run by Karl Zabroski, who was a manager at Rollerworld for 14 years.
Despite having some naming issues, the bar is fully up and running and is proving a hit with guests.
Last week, a friend and I went to the venue to see what it had to offer, and I have to say we had an absolute blast.
It was 6pm on a Friday evening, meaning we arrived just before the bar began to get busy ahead of the weekend.
The atmosphere was relatively relaxed, with some groups having a great time with the games and activities when we walked in.
The music playing in the background was often popular hits, and the layout was easy to grasp.
There is a great ‘classic sports bar’ theme, with red and blue walls, lit-up signs, neon lights and more.
When you enter you are met with the axe throwing on the le with darts and table tennis behind it, pool tables in the middle.
There is a bar on the right with a seating area to eat food or relax in between games.
We were quickly greeted warmly by the staff, who found our booking easily, before getting us onto the axe throwing.
We opted for the all-game pass for £25, which gave us access to a round of axe throwing and then all the other games within a two-hour period.
A wristband was handed to the pair of us, before moving straight onto axe throwing, with no wait needed.
We were given a great demonstration and tips by the staff, who explained the activity well and in detail, providing all the safety information too.
A key thing to note is there is no drinking allowed during the axe throwing, but we would not be drinking as we were both driving home after.
There are three axes to launch at the targets, with supervision and scorekeeping from the staff.
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After five rounds and a victory to me, we moved on.
With eight pool tables on offer, we easily jumped onto one and enjoyed a relaxing (and certainly competitive) game of pool, nicely lit by a hanging light.
Despite plenty of choice, we opted for a short game of beer pong next, playing it as it should, minus the drinks.
We were just under halfway through our evening, so it was time to try out the food.
Going up to the bar, we were greeted by a variety of drinks, which we did not try on this occasion, sticking with a simple coke and food.
We decided on the chicken nuggets and chips, which came to just over £10 each.
The wait was not long, and the portions were very generous, making the food a huge positive part of the evening.
The skin-on fries were topped with some nice salt and spice, adding a nice flavour to the bland fries you may get elsewhere.
The chicken was not the tasteless boring nuggets you might find at other venues, with the chicken nicely flavoured and well-textured.
Full up and eager to continue, we moved on to shuffleboard, which was fantastic fun.
The last 25 minutes flew by with some competitive and great games of table tennis.
We didn’t quite get time to try out everything, missing out on the darts, golf simulator and air hockey. But that is a great excuse to return.
Overall, with almost no queues, friendly staff, reasonable pricing and two hours of fun, the No Name Bar and Games is definitely something I will be trying again.
Four-and-a-half-stars.
