Swingers – The Crazy Golf Club
Credit: Swingers
Swingers is brought to you by the Institute of Competitive Socialising (ICS), a group of like-minded individuals who believe that life is better when it includes an element of competition – and that competition is best enjoyed with friends. To that end the ICS created Swingers – The Crazy Golf Club, a venue that takes the holy trinity that is crazy golf, street food and drinks and combines them all into one incredible social experience.
Swingers is based on a 1920’s golf club set in the English countryside where you can step into the secret world of the old clubhouse, rolling greens, lush foliage and unparalleled hospitality. Swingers first permanent venue opens on 27 May 2016 and is just a stone’s throw away from The Gherkin, London and comprises 16,000 square foot of socially competitive fun and features two bespoke nine hole crazy golf courses, five cocktail drenched bars, three of London’s best street food vendors, a two storey clubhouse with gin terrace and nightly DJs.
The idea started out as a pop up venue in Shoreditch and attracted thousands of visitors. Before the pop-up venue closed, co-founders Matt Grech-Smith and Jeremy Simmonds were looking for a permanent venue when they came across a former World War Two bunker for their unique idea.
Co-Founder and Managing Director Matt Grech-Smith commented: “We could see from the bar and restaurant industries that increasingly people were looking for an experience when they were out where they could actually do something besides just eating and drinking. We decided to do a crazy golf venue so tested it as a pop up from September 2014 to February 2015, just to see if the idea had legs, and we had an overwhelming response with the tickets selling out really fast. From that we could see that there was an opportunity and we immediately set to work on creating a permanent venue.”
The main contractors on the project are WFC and work on transforming the former bunker into a playable golf course and eating and drinking venue is in the final stages.
Matt said: “For the new site we are spending in the region of £2 million. Compared with the pop-up, everything is permanent, higher quality and we have been able to develop everything that worked so well for us before. So we have got two golf courses (instead of one before), the clubhouse in the venue is going from a one storey fitting to being a two storey structure, there are three more bars and an extra street food vendor”.
Zachary Pulman, Director at Zachary Pulmam Interior Design, who has worked on the interior of the building, commented: “I think the clubhouse is a nice piece and it is quite modern and simple. The food court is nice and has a casual feeling about it and there is also a very nice summer bar upstairs, where they have done a gin terrace that goes down onto the golf course. The project has been really enjoyable. The clients are very experimental, fun and straight forward and it has been a nice sort of family relationship between everyone.”
Once Swingers is launched, Matt is hoping that the ICS can expand their idea further and explore further venues that incorporate different activities.
He concluded: “All of the early indicators are fantastic and we think customers are going to love Swingers. We hope to create other experiences where people can enjoy competitive activities with good food and drink. Swingers is just the first iteration of that and we are currently working on other concepts, some that people will be familiar with and others that they wont be, that people can enjoy in this unique way.”
Credit: Swingers
PA Schofield
PA Schofield is a decorating contractor, specialising in decoration works for the hospitality and leisure industry. The company has been in operation for 20 years and within this time has worked on a range of prestigious projects, including the Old Bengal Warehouse on Liverpool Street, London; Angelica and Crafthouse in Leeds; Aqua and Huttong in the Shard, London; the famous Garrick Theatre, London; and Lords Pavilion, London.
Most recently, PA Schofield provided decorating services to Swingers – a project that saw PA Schofield tackle a project for a new client. Working on Swingers, PA Schofield was responsible for all the decorating works, creating distressed and aged effects throughout.
Speaking to Premier Hospitality, PA Schofield Managing Director, Paul Schofield, said:
“It’s a different theme and a great project to work on. We also value our involvement with new clients.”
Paul added:
“At PA Schofield, we pride ourselves on the quality of our work and our ability to complete a project on time and within budget.”
