Alternative Date Idea | Nottingham | Penny Lane
Nottingham is one of the most landlocked areas of the UK and whilst fish and chips always taste better near the sea, arcade games are fun wherever they are. So this weekend we headed to Penny Lane for an alternative date day in Nottingham…
Penny Lane is a Bar, Kitchen and Arcade (their words not mine), offering a large food and drinks menu and a whole array of arcade games from 2p machines to camel racing. They’ve only recently opened this venue, but it’s part of the same team as Das Kino and The Hockley Arts Club- I would recommend both. Das Kino pizza is literally the stuff of dreams.
We visited Penny Lane on a Saturday lunch time at just gone 12 and it was already starting to get busy (Stew was hungry and I was ready for a cocktail). Penny Lane has a broad menu of sandwiches, flat breads and burgers as well as some favourites such as Fish and Chips and Salads. I had a meatball sub and Stew picked a burger and whilst the food was fine and reasonably priced, given the amazing choice in Nottingham I would head here for drinks and fun rather than food. The menu does offer gluten free and vegan options, and I think even the fussiest of eaters would find something suitable at Penny Lane.
The drinks were delicious and also served in a fun and novel way. I had the ’99 Problems but the Beach ain’t one’ and I had absolutely zero problems enjoying this. Fruity and gin based (favourite), served an inflatable- what more could a girl want? Stew went for Tin Can Alley which was a bourbon based number, also delicious but maybe a little hard for lunch time. Who am I to mention that an alcoholic drink that tastes a little bit too alcoholic?
After our food, we took our drinks and went to the arcade at the back of Penny Lane. All of the machines, apart from the 2p machines use tokens which are £1. The token machines take cash or card and you can buy individuals tokens so you never have to buy more than you want. We ended up spending about £15, as I may have got a little bit too competitive on the basketball hoops as all those years playing netball at school were doing me proud. I’m also going to take the opportunity to say that I won at Camel racing and I’m now the proud owner of a high quality plastic medal. Stew would like to point out that he definitely won at Air Hockey…
Whilst we actually went here for an Alternative Date Day, Penny Lane is great for an alternative Date Day or a Date Night in Nottingham. It’s definitely different from your usual drinks or cinema! I would recommend that you prebook, as on a Saturday lunch time they were already busy and I think in the evening booking would be almost essential.
The rating
8/10 would come again but I’d skip food and head for the bar and the camel racing! Despite being super instagrammable, the signal and wifi at Penny Lane sucked, so I’m afraid you’re going to have to talk to your date.
I paid for this with my (our) own money and am incentivised in no way to write this- it’s just too good not to share. I would have been keen to have had a Mr Whippy if we’d not just had lunch- I wouldn’t have shared that…