UK Event Reviews
Looking for the lowdown on a particular day out or somewhere you’ve seen advertised? Chances are I might have been there already and can give you the inside track.
See below & feel free to send in your own reviews
The Silverstone Museum
What is It?
It’s a roller disco and fight club. No it’s not, it’s a museum all about motor racing of course, you silly goose.
Where is it?
As you might suspect, the Silverstone Museum is of course located at the most epic F1 circuit in the world, Silverstone (and if you’ve never been to the British Grand Prix, check out my review of the 2024 GP when Lewis took the win here)
If you’re wanting to check it out on Google Earth, then tap in the postcode NN12 8TN
What’s good about it?
There’s some great memorabilia and its amazing to see the different models through each decade. There are some fab photo opps for your instagram too ; )
What’s bad about it?
It doesn’t take too long to go round, so if you’ve got a long drive to get there, you might want to plan something else in as part of your trip.
How much is this going to cost me?
When we booked it was £22.50 for adults, and £13.50 for 15 and under, so that worked out as £72 for a family of 4. In addition, by paying for a day ticket, you’re allowed to go back for free anytime over the next 12 months which seems like a decent offer (if you’re likely to go twice in a year?)
What’s the overall F1Polecat verdict?
I’d give the Silverstone Museum 3 paws out of 5 (yes, polecats have 5 paws don’t you know).
The F1 Arcade, London
What is It?
So imagine a pub packed out with arcade games, but every single one of those games is F1 2024 by EA sports (i.e. the Xbox, PlayStation or Steam version). For those in America, swop the word pub for bar, and you’ll get the idea.
Where is it?
The one I’ve reviewed is near St Paul’s in London, but there’s also one located in Chamberlain Square in Birmingham City Centre.
If you happen to be one of my (millions of) followers in the United States, then there’s also an F1 Arcade in Boston and Washington D.C. and further bars planned for Las Vegas, Denver and Philadelphia in 2025.
What’s good about it?
If you love playing racing sims on your home console, then you will of course love this. The screens are fitted out in banks of 2 or 4, so you can play multi-player with your friends or family. It can also be hired out for birthday parties (or after work staff events, if you’re a grown up).
There’s also a bar (a big bar) for adults who drink alcohol (being 14, I decided to opt out of reviewing the special brew) and various snacks, soft drinks and mocktails for under 18’s (or under 21’s in America, where you guys apparently can’t be trusted).
What’s bad about it?
I absolutely loved it, but there’s something you should know about the seats that you sit in at each screen. They’re designed to hydraulically move and vibrate, to simulate the movement as you go round corners and brake. This is an absolute plus for me (and also was for my Dad and bruv) but my Step Mum (bless her socks!) felt really nauseous and had to go outside and get some fresh air. I think it’s a bit unfair to call this out as a negative as this must affect about 0.5% of people, but I thought it was worth mentioning in case you’re the sort of person that struggles with roller coasters or virtual reality stuff.
How much is this going to cost me?
To be fair, I wasn’t paying but my Dad said it was expensive so we had to be sensible how many games we had. At the London venue where we went, prices range from £17.95 to £22.95 for 4 races (which takes about an hour in total).
Drinks are average price for London (so I’m told by he who has the wallet of destiny) which was £3.50 for a diet coke or (for the grown ups) £8.50 for a glass of the cheapest wine on the menu.
Overall, that means for just 1 hour of entertainment along with 2 drinks each during that hour, you’re looking at £140 for a standard family of 4.
What’s the overall F1Polecat verdict?
I’m not going to take any paws off of the F1 Arcade for the nausea caused by the simulators (sorry step ma, this is more of a ‘you thing’) but I’m going to scrub one off for the overall cost. Yeah it’s in the middle of London where everything is expensive, and yeah there’s the cost of F1 branding but it really is steep for 1 hour of entertainment. I’d love to spend a whole day up their with my fams but realistically we could go on our hols to Ibiza for that much. 4 paws out of 5 (until you give families some discounts in the half-term holidays).