Review: Romsey's first escape room 'Escape The Attic'

Escape the Attic is Romsey’s first escape room in a prime location along The Hundred and it did not disappoint.

There are a few escape rooms in Southampton and other cities in Hampshire but it is wonderful to have this sort of modern experience in the centre of Romsey.

And it’s been executed in true Romsey style, with an introduction on the town’s history to start as the story centres round the old hardware store that used to occupy the building of Fig and Fox before an abrupt interruption on the mission ahead and the game begins.

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James and Helen opened the gift and lifestyle shop in October and have done a remarkable job in transforming the attic above into a fun-filled and slightly spooky conundrum and they've already been getting back-to-back bookings.

I recruited three other players but you can have teams of up to six people. I do recommend teaming up with friends who you are unlikely to fall out with as frustrations can build, although with us it was mainly at James’ witty comments and clues which were fed through to us during the game.

Without giving too much away to those of you who plan to try it for yourselves, the experience starts with a debrief and background video in the holding room before the attic reveals itself and the hour-long countdown to crack the code begins.

Admittedly, we did fall at the first hurdle and open a random door instead but once inside we were making good progress.

It is a completely authentic attic, with creaky floorboards, dim lighting, countless filing cabinets and an old-style radio. There are so many items, switches and locks in the room but not all of them are compulsory to getting out and the game can unfold differently for each team depending on what leads they follow.

With so much left unlocked it did feel like we hadn’t done enough to complete the game but we were all relieved to finish in a time of 46 minutes and 39 seconds as we were starting to feel the clock ticking (although you have no idea how long you've actually been in there).

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You can request to have no help at all, but I think we appreciated the help and nudges in the right direction. Often, we were on the right track but our execution and impatience let us down.

Overall, a great experience and fantastic way to spend time with friends or family without the dreaded small talk.

After the pressure of the escape room, you can also relax with a browse around the shop. The coffee selection and huge brownies definitely caught my eye.

Tickets to The Attic cost £16.50 each. To book go to theatticromsey.co.uk/.