Entertainment Social Arena #9 – London Mall Entertainment Impact – Part 1

AI Constructed Brief

In this first part, we look at London emerging as a hub for competitive socializing and social entertainment, targeting Millennials and Gen Z. Key developments include the integration of entertainment such as bowling, mini-golf, VR, and sports-themed venues within major malls like Westfield London. Notable concepts include All Star Lanes, PuttShack, and the partnership between Sandbox VR and TOCA Social, showcasing combined social, tech, and sport experiences. GENDA Europe’s entry with mini crane machines and upcoming leisure assets signals growing investment activity. Overall, the market is characterized by innovative, tech-infused venues with high foot traffic, reflecting strong growth prospects in the UK’s social entertainment sector.

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Competitive Socializing Revolution in London – Part 1.

The UK Capital seems to have become a launchpad and proving ground for several of the leading competitive socializing and social entertainment venue concepts. We take time while attending venue launches to evaluate the offerings available.

The London capital’s influence on the Social Entertainment investment scene, has seen in the last few months continued expansion of the new offering in the UK capital. The application of competitive socializing targeted to attract Millennial and Gen Z customers. One example of the deployed growth of social entertainment was seen during visits to two of the prominent shopping mall venues in the UK capital. Operated by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, their two sites at White City and Stratford have grown to embrace the inclusion of a social entertainment mix alongside their cinema, retail and hospitality tenants.

Our observation on the emerging market, we started with a visit to the Westfield White City, also known as ‘Westfield London’ – first opened in 2008, and has seen progressive expansions becoming one of the largest under cover shopping centers in the country. The White City mall has been pivotal in establishing this current phase of social entertainment investment. No stranger to unique entertainment, the site had been the home of the previous ‘Kidzania London’ attraction that closed (2015-2024). But as with the sister mall location the drive to include entertainment alongside the retail was prevalent.

One of the prominent Competitive Socializing chains that lead the popularization of the concept was the ‘All Star Lanes’ boutique bowler chain. The bowling, entertainment and hospitality space can trace its roots back to being founded in 2006 – one of the first chains to combine the entertainment and hospitality mix for the evolving audience base. The operation now comprising four venues across the country.

Observations – The Westfield London location comprises the mix of bar and restaurant at the front, and through the facility towards the bowling land, amusement – along with private hire room and karaoke. The amusement mix include one of the first installations of a ‘QBIX’ immersive enclosure attraction from INOWIZE – offering an active entertainment experience within the bowling environment. Even during our lunchtime visit to the space, the lanes were busy illustrating the popularity of this approach. We would be visiting the sister site at Westfield Stratford City, in our next coverage.

The establishment of All Star Lanes allowed the management team to broaden their reach and were instrumental in the launch of the Gamified mini golf concept. ‘PuttShack’ would launch in 2018 with a flagship site at White City Westfield, only a stone’s throw from the All Star Lanes location.  The tech-infused 18-hole mini golf concept offers at the Westfield, the first representation of the mixing of cocktail, food and tech-infused mini-golf. The team behind the creation of the Gamified golf-shooting range ‘TopGolf’ – the same microchipped golf balls embedded with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, (Trackball), would then be applied to the mini golf concept. The removal of the scorecard and all the friction reinvigorated the mini golf experience, accelerated with the addition of a seamless F&B component.

Observations – Just starting to see business buildup during the visit, it was clear that this was an originator of the formula for the venue and would go on to be improved through their chain of some 20 international venues. One questions the lack of secondary revenue streams from the model, though the corporation has fixated on the mix of social cocktails, and menu items as accompaniment to the guests stay-to-play.

It was revealed that GENDA Europe chose White City site for the opening of their first ‘GiGO’ retailtainment space in Europe and the UK. The mall has proven a hard testing ground, located in the ‘Ichiba’ Japanese store and restaurant a cluster of the ‘GiGO’ mini crane machines in a self-service kiosk configuration have been installed with little promotion.

Observations – The appearance of a self-service new wave crane installation in the turnkey configuration of the ‘GiGO’ system – appealing to young and older players based on its two-level construction. This is the first testing of the waters of UK audience to this kind of collectable merch vending. It was clear at the time this was just the beginning of the plans underway for the new UK operation.

The appearance of GENDA into the European market caught many by surprise, the corporation’s meteoric growth, charted in our sister service The Stinger Report over the last few years, if not missed by the rest of the trade. Just as we go to the wire with this coverage of the UK market, and GENDA are once again in the news, with the announcement of the acquisition for $25m of the Inspired Entertainment UK holiday parks and associated leisure assets. This will give GENDA a 225-facility operation in the territory. Along with a partnership with Inspired to use GENDA IP in gaming properties, machines that will be operated at these sites through the Indigo NewCom operation, part of the agreement. Momentous developments for the UK sector.

Since the Westfield London mall had played host to the popup Netflix ‘Army of the Dead VR: Viva Las Vengeance’ a few years back. The presence of VR entertainment has been supplied by the ‘DIVR Lab’ VR entertainment space, located in the heart of the covered mall space in a retail unit, the venue offers an immersive adventure with their unique free-roaming entertainment space. A selection of experiences to try from, using the latest HTC VIVE VR headset.

Observations – The Entertainment Social Arena publishers a familiar with DIVR Labs having worked with the team. The venue is part of a chain of sites operated by the company. And has proven a strong operation in their lineup. Competing in the crowded waters of franchise like Sandbox VR and Zero Latency. The need to offer a compelling experience to the walk in traffic as well as those booking is a practiced business. Independently, VR is also on offer directly on the mall floor, with a popup installation of eight IMMOTION 9D motion pods.

We have already covered the growth in “Sportainment” in social entertainment in previous coverage, and the White City mall reflected the evolution in this scene. Originally the shopping district had been home to a SIXES Social Cricket venue, offering a selection of cricket batting cages with projection screen ball launchers. As we reported previously the tech supplied from BatFast technology. But in 2024, the SIXES location was totally rethemed and rebranded to ‘Moonshot Social’. Seen as a flagship location for the move by the chain into a sports bar format into the world of baseball. While the themeality had changed to a US baseball environment with three batting cages changed to the BatFast upgraded baseball variant. While the other two remained cricket themed cages. The baseball offering smaller bats and new balls. Hoping to appeal to a wider diversity of patron.

Observations –The sudden redressing of the previous venue into the ‘Moonshot’ property was missed by many in the trade, and yet there have not been any other openings of this brand since then. Another addition to the space was considerably more amusement machines and new American Pool tables and shuffleboard than had not been present in the original SIXES location. Obviously, a brand under review, the owners of SIXES have recently restructured their management and financial positioning towards expanding their 16-odd facility business.

The other sports entertainment brand at Westfield London, and the key reason for the review of the location was to attend the opening of a brand new TOCA Social. Owned by TOCA Football who we covered in the previous report, the operation in May 2025 refinanced their operation including $20 million in debt financing from JP Morgan Commercial Banking. This capital focused on expanding international growth of the competitive socializing concept, along with investment into their proven football training and coaching technology.

With this investment news came the announcement of a new partnership between Sandbox VR UK & Ireland and TOCA Social, towards developing a joint venue at the Westfield Mall in White City. Stated as blending social entertainment with VR, the new 30,000-sq.,ft., venue comprised 24 TOCA game boxes, along with Sandbox VR arenas. And we at the Entertainment Social Arena were lucky enough to be invited to one of the Private Events to mark the opening. Getting a chance to see how this partnership between entertainments worked.

Observations – The new TOCA Social and Sandbox VR venue is located outside of the mall in a space on the edge of the site, but still within the audience catchment of the mall. The well-presented facility with its soccer bays, one located in its own VIP area. Is supported by bar and shareable menu options at either end of the space. A space that is shared with three Sandbox VR arenas, offering their unique selection of IP based content like Netflix ‘Squid Games’ series, as well as unique VR arena properties.

As would be expected at the Private Event all the bays were in action, and it was great to see the way the hospitality component works alongside the entertainment mix. Players sitting watching the ball skill action while consuming and ordering. The Sandbox VR element working on a slightly different matrix of turning up, playing your booking and moving on, while the soccer experience seemed to combine both the F&B and the entertainment. It will be interesting to see how complimentary these two operations are to their bottom line.

Regarding the TOCA Social venue, during our visit, prior to the private event, a conference regarding female sports utilized the multiple projection stage environment. This was a perfect example of the secondary business opportunities for immersive sim spaces to be used as private hire venues. We will be covering this aspect of the business in a coming exclusive feature revealing how some entertainment operations see over 40% of their revenue coming from private hire and party business. Returning to Westfield London, the mall has one other active entertainment space supporting guests. The Metrix soccer experience, defined by the company “Football Re-Coded”, more of an active play and skill environment, with a selection of other games and even a smattering of VR. This is a full-on sport entertainment venue, currently working to grow its brand.