Where are we now and how did we get here?

Savills has been following the Competitive Socialising (CS) market since 2018. The year was considered a tipping point for the sector when a new form of leisure offer – including axe throwing, escape rooms and virtual reality experiences – were starting to make a significant impact on the market. Initially, concepts were sporadically located in secondary pitches in key cities where rents were cheap, and weak covenants and inexpensive designs made them unattractive to wary landlords. However, over the intervening years, a significant injection of innovation and capital has resulted in a sector in demand in most major UK cities.

Much of the market remains fragmented, from independents operating single sites to VC-backed international concepts operating just a handful of London and regional sites, but with overseas operations in Europe, the UAE, Asia or the US. By 2025, the market has matured significantly and quality of experience is paramount in order to appeal to a discerning but fickle consumer.

Our Brand Tracker includes any operator with multiple sites. In 2025, these account for over 500 sites, compared with 275 in 2018. This represents an 84% increase in our Brand Tracker between 2018 and 2025, compared with the whole market increasing by 58% over the same period. Openings from 2018–2025 were, on average, 9% year-on-year (YoY), but a series of headwinds (e.g. Covid, inflation and the cost of living crisis) has resulted in the closure of many independent operators, particularly where there has been a local improvement in the quality of supply.

While there has been continued growth among tracked brands, there has also been an influx of new operators and concepts entering the market. The resulting net increase since 2018 has been 10% YoY for our Brand Tracker and 6% YoY for the whole market.

The total market now has over 800 sites, but the sector is notoriously difficult to track accurately due to the number of sites operating from pubs, small back-street locations, pop-ups or tourist sites. Our focus is on major UK city centres, shopping centres and leisure schemes, which we are confident covers at least 95% of the market.

Independent operators used to account for around half of the market but now represent less than 40%. Brands have become increasingly dominant in terms of new openings. By the end of the decade, we estimate that 75% of CS businesses will be operated by brands from around 820 locations, while the whole market will grow to almost 1,100 sites.

Challenges to growth going forward

The CS sector has grown at unparalleled levels across the past five years, as demand for in-person experiences and interactions increased post-pandemic. While we remain confident that we will see further growth, there are a few precautions that need to be taken in terms of how much latent demand remains if we are to avoid saturation seen in other leisure markets, such as the trampoline boom around ten years ago.

In the initial period, CS brands were primarily attracted to larger cities. This has resulted in some select markets nearing saturation for certain concepts as fascias compete for finite consumer spend. In some locations we are into a period of stabilisation and will likely see some consolidations.

However, such is the diversity of CS concepts that it remains possible in the largest markets for there to be “micro-saturation” of one concept if several businesses are present, but potential for a new concept to boost the critical mass and appeal of the wider offer.

As such, operator requirements are shifting. Some are looking to smaller towns and cities across the UK, or internationally, to continue their growth trajectories. There is also a wider diversity of size requirements. Several operators are seeking larger footprints of over 20,000 sq ft in order to house multiple CS activities under one roof (the ‘Combo’ concept), while others are looking for smaller footplates to secure units in locations where rents are high or for smaller catchment populations. In the latter scenario, there is typically only room for one or two sites for businesses to thrive.

We anticipate that the majority of growth in the next few years will be from those operating within the family entertainment leisure sphere.

Other headwinds for the sector include the well-documented cost pressures such as wage inflation, national insurance changes, business rates and the cost-of-living squeeze that has put pressure on all hospitality. Additionally, while the proportion of disposable income spent on leisure has increased, consumers are becoming more discerning about where and how they spend their money.

Leisure experiences remain central to how we interact with each other in social settings. However, operators are having to work hard to keep their offers fresh and tempt consumers back for repeat visits once the initial “halo” effect of a new opening wanes.

A look at brands/concepts

Combo concepts

The ‘Combo’ all-under-one-roof approach has experienced the largest sub-sector growth and is something we expect to see more of. Since 2018, the number of sites has increased from 11 to 84, while the number of brands has grown from three to eight.

Incorporating several concepts – such as bowling, karaoke, darts and table tennis – allows operators to dominate the catchments in which they locate, while maintaining flexibility to evolve with consumer trends, introduce new games and respond to incoming competitors. This can appeal to landlords seeking to secure a long-term footfall driver to their assets that can keep drawing consumers back.

However, there are larger size requirements. Boom Battle Bar (BBB), Roxy Ball Room (and Roxy Lanes), and Lane 7 are leading the way, with 66 sites between them. BBB had no sites in 2018 and is now up to 30 nationally. Lane 7 has also opened offshoot concepts such as ML7 in Newcastle, an arcade bar offering pool and duckpin bowling.

Openings in 2025 also include its Gutterball brand, which offers family-friendly bowling. More brands are now entering the realms of ‘combo’ and beginning to extend or diversify their offerings. We have seen operators hosting or sharing space with other CS vendors (for example, Urban Playground in Manchester Arndale). This allows brands to be more adaptable to changes in consumer trends while also increasing dwell times at the venues.

Solo sports

In 2018, the narrative centred around ping pong, shuffleboard, darts and axe throwing. These remain important concepts, but several operators have left and new entrants have arrived, such as TOKA Social (football).

Our Brand Tracker now includes 22 solo sports brands, up from 13 in 2018. Flight Club is the only top-five solo sports brand that existed in 2018 and has since grown to 14 sites. However, new openings have slowed, which may be an indication that brands seeking key regional city openings have a natural ceiling before reaching capacity. The brand is nevertheless likely to open two to three more UK sites in 2026, as well as looking for international opportunities.

Sixes grew rapidly to 15 sites from its first opening in 2020 but entered administration at the end of last year. It is possible that a buyer will rescue a consolidated form of the business, and eleven sites are currently still trading. Its failure is a warning to businesses seeking rapid expansion and a reminder that the challenge for any concept with a single offering is its longevity, given the need to keep consumers interested.

The key difference between success and failure in the solo sports segment is the importance of a high-quality fit-out, a strong food and beverage offer, and the right location, which is paramount to ensure there are sufficient target consumer groups.

Urban mini golf

Indoor crazy golf was already one of the more established subsectors of CS in 2018, having seen investment improve concepts and provide confidence to landlords seeking to boost their family leisure credentials.

Since then, venues have more than doubled and we have recorded 100 in our latest audit. Clearly, there are far more outdoor crazy golf venues across the country, but the focus here is on the commercial leisure market and its place within large retail and leisure schemes.

The number of brands we track has grown from 13 to 21, with seven brands operating half of all sites. Mr Mulligans is the largest operator with 15 sites nationwide. Growth in this segment is expected to slow over the next few years.

Escape rooms

Escape rooms not only kicked off the CS boom, but have also been the most fragmented, as enthusiastic entrepreneurs opened independent venues across the country, often from back rooms, with low-tech, but playable challenges.

Independents still account for 60% of sites, more than any other CS subsector, and there are now over 225 venues nationwide. Within our Brand Tracker, the number of brands has increased from 14 to 19 since 2018.

Escape Hunt is currently the most established brand, with 23 sites and seeking a further two to three locations in 2026. While quality of offer has been really important for prime locations, or attracting corporates, the significant tail of smaller national venues reflects relatively low start-up costs and the ability of this subsector to locate into smaller towns and cities.

Bowling

The epitome of competitive socialising, bowling has made something of a revival over the past decade. This can largely be attributed to the disruptive CS market forcing operators to up their game and reinvest in tired facilities.

The arrival of Lane 7 and Roxy among the UK’s top five bowling operators demonstrates the level of disruption, and in fact, the response has not just been refurbishment, but also the adoption of other CS concepts into long-established bowling venues, ‘Combo-lite’ you could call it.

In fact, it is worth noting that because of a degree of overlap between Combo operators that include bowling and ‘solo’ bowling operators (that may or may not include an element of CS), there are several operators that appear both Combo and Bowling in our audit. This overlap has been factored into our total growth figures, but not within our subsector figures.

There has also been a degree of brand consolidation. Hollywood Bowl increased from 48 sites in 2018 to 77 in 2025 through a series of acquisitions, capitalising on the consumer trend for leisure experiences.

What’s next for competitive socialising?

Site numbers are expected to continue growing by 10% annually through to 2030, with new brands emerging and adding to this mix. We estimate our BrandTracker will exceed 800 sites by 2030, with the total market reaching around 1,100 sites over the same period.

Many regional cities are already at capacity, but there remain “in-fill” options, particularly in smaller cities with large student or tourist populations.

However, as the sector continues to grow and diversify, there is an increasing blend between different leisure subsectors. We have already seen how bowling has adapted and incorporated elements of competitive socialising, and there is becoming a blurring between leisure formats and another parallel leisure sector: immersive leisure.

There are many forms of immersive leisure, from Abba Voyage and Mama Mia! The Party to Secret Cinema, The Lost Estate, The Cauldron and the Museum of Illusions. Most of these concepts are more about theatre than gameplay, but there is no doubt they also compete for the consumer pound.

Where theatre and gameplay converge is within the “game show” CS concept. We have not included these in the above narrative because the subsector is still in its infancy and solo venues do not meet the criteria for inclusion within our Brand Tracker.

Back in 2018, the only format we tracked was The Crystal Maze. Since then, this subsector has grown from two to 13 venues, including concepts such as The Traitors Live, The Cube, Monopoly Lifesized, Ludo and Gameshow Allstars. The common theme is playing within cherished family board games or TV game shows, with strong intellectual property concepts being key to popularity.

So far, most game show and immersive leisure concepts are located in London and a few key regional cities. There is unlikely to be significant plans for expansion of specific concepts beyond this, although we can expect to see an increasing number of alternative concepts entering the market.

If we were to pick one other area that we anticipate the most growth in new concepts in the next three to five years, it would be from family entertainment brands. This will be a particularly important area for leisure schemes and shopping centres that continue to seek to diversify their leisure offer.

Brands such as Chuck E. Cheese, SuperPark, TeamSport, Putt Putt Noodle and Activate – many of which are well-financed international businesses – are looking to expand into the UK. There has also been renewed interest in arcades and retro gaming.

The key theme here is that the market continues to evolve at pace, ensuring that consumers will have an increasingly diverse range of leisure experiences to immerse themselves in for years to come.

_{Read the articles within Spotlight: UK Leisure Market 2026 below.}