It’s Tuesday 4th September 1666 and The Great Fire of London has been burning for two days. Order has begun to break down and chaos is threatening to erupt – fuelled by the rumours that the fire was started on purpose… Londoners are blaming every stranger that crosses their path. Is it another attack in the long running feud with the Catholics? A retaliation in the war with the Dutch? Or was it just an accident?
Only one man knows the truth about how the fire started, and that man is Thomas Farriner, a baker from Pudding Lane, from whose bakery the first flames appeared on September 2nd… But with his house and, in fact, his entire street long destroyed, Farriner and his three children have fled to safety at the house of his brother David, on Mincing Lane.
Meanwhile, a Frenchman by the name of Robert Hubert has been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire. If found guilty, he will hang, and although he doesn’t seem in his right mind, and his story doesn’t add up, the authorities want someone to blame and are ignoring their suspicions that he is innocent.
In order to set things straight and stop London collapsing into paranoid anarchy, Thomas Farriner must be convinced to deliver a statement describing what really happened on the night of September 2nd through the door of the nearest church. But first, someone must brave the fiery streets and dastardly challenges in order to find him… The question then is, what will he decide to say? The fate of London awaits…
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Played: 3 Mar 2024Team size: 4Time taken: 40:24Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifuloriginalstory-drivenquite easy
The room was beautiful and the puzzles were fun and it had a really strong theme and story. Only complaint was that it was quite linear with only really one thing to work on and solve at a time so a team of four felt a bit big.
Played: 16 Mar 2024Team size: 3Time taken: 34:04Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverimmersivestory-driven
Ah what a brilliant way to make a historical event come alive, brilliantly themed, some clever puzzles and tasks and a decision to make at the end leading to different outcomes. Loved our GM Lily and really hope that TimeTrap is reborn with their time travel antics elsewhere.
Played: 3 Mar 2024Team size: 2Time taken: 50:05Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivebroken techquite easy
The highlights of this are definitely the set, immersiveness and theming of the puzzles. However, we found it a bit on the easy side (and some puzzles were not that original), and we were unimpressed that one of the puzzles was not working so we unknowingly bypassed it completely (which apparently was the intention) which left us confused on finishing, and our GM tried to hide it (the fact that it was broken) from us even when we asked about it… I found that part really disappointing and it soured my feelings on this at the end. It’s still decent, but Curioser and Curiouser is much more worth the trip!
Played: 20 Jan 2024Team size: 4Time taken: 34:09Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting
Wow! This room is absolutely fantastic. As soon as we were taken to the lobby we knew that TimeTrap meant business, the theming is so consistent and the experience starts when you walk through the door, not just within the rooms. We were taken to our room and the second that the door opened we were immersed before even stepping a foot inside. The room is absolutely beautiful, the attention to detail is outstanding and our GM Lily was perfect. She was completely in character and set the scene perfectly. Now for the actual puzzles... The main area features two linear puzzle paths running alongside each other so for a team of 4 it was perfect (even if we did forget to spot the start of the second path and do them one after the other instead XD). There was plenty for everybody to do, no red herrings and a good mixture of difficulties that make it suitable for everyone. We can't really comment on the hint system as we didn't use any but from what we were told it was well incorporated into the theme so isn't jarring to the story at all. One thing to note is that there are a couple of puzzle items that you are required to move that are pretty heavy, personally I think the weight is a bit unnecessary and some people may struggle with this particular element. Overall, a really fantastic room that is well worth a visit and is possibly my current favourite in the UK.
Played: 28 Dec 2023Team size: 4Time taken: 51:53Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivestory-driven
The hosts were enthusiastic from the moment we arrived and provided excellent service. The venue is also completely on theme (time travel). Great start.The room itself was really well put together. The creator has obviously put a lot of time and thought into it and I could genuinely believe I was back in 1666 in London during the fire - great job!The puzzles were all good. Some novel puzzles too. Nothing too easy or too hard.Had a really good experience and will 100% be coming back again to do their other rooms!
Played: 4 Aug 2023Team size: 2Time taken: 55Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulcleverimmersive
Great game that we'd recommend to anyone, this has to be the best themed and decorated game we've done but the puzzles also work beautifully. Can't wait to do their other games.
Played: 26 Aug 2023Team size: 2Time taken: 52:00Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivegreat hosting
Beautful theming, puzzles in keeping with the overall theme. You journey back to the great fire of London in 1666 (that was started by Terileptils in Doctor Who, I remember watching it!). Everything is in keeping with the theme and also gives you a chance to affect the ending. This is great storytelling and an enjoyable experience.
Played: 30 May 2023Team size: 2Time taken: 63Outcome: Failed 🙁
originalimmersivegreat hosting
Loved the immersion of this room. I normally find darker rooms a bit more tricky but they gave us good quality working torches. There was some original puzzles in this room. there has been a lots of thought put into the time trap rooms and this one was my favourite will come back for the other rooms!
Played: 24 May 2023Team size: 4Time taken: 44:43Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifuloriginalimmersive
Immersion is fantastic in Pudding Lane and clearly a lot of care has gone into the story and set design. The puzzles were unique and logical, we just thought that 4 people felt like too many in here at points. GM Tegan was brilliant, and this is overall an amazing game
Played: 9 May 2023Team size: 3Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivegreat hosting
Excellent choice for my 200th game. Dan looked after us excellently. The game is perfectly pitched, very immersive and clever with some interesting and unique features. What really set this game apart for me was the attention to detail which is amazing!
Wonderfully immersive design, unique and cleaver puzzles, it really feels like you’ve been transported back in time. Hosts are very friendly and energetic and the clue system is as in theme as possible given the setting.
Played: 29th October 2021Team size: 3Time taken: 63:00Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hostingquite difficult
Another fabulously themed room by TimeTrap with great puzzles and an immersive story. We didn't quite get out in the 60 minutes but I love that TT allow you to go over the standard 1hour. This was a fun game with lots for everyone to do.
Played: 24 Oct 2022Team size: 2Time taken: 38.29Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifuloriginalgreat hosting
This is an absolute beauty of a game. It is stuffed full of delightful puzzles that flow beautifully and that offer a huge variety of different skill challenges. The details are absolutely gorgeous: what a superb set!
We're always blown away when rooms are intuitive and offer very few 'what do we do now?' moments while still providing a challenge and that is exactly what this room does. It's definitely a room for those who appreciate some clever, well-thought out craftsmanship and who love a quirky puzzle in an immersive set.
David (Samuel Pepys) was a fantastic host and an absolute pleasure to chat to afterwards.
Played: 15 Aug 2022Team size: 2Time taken: 54:58Outcome: Successful escape!
beautiful
Really impressive set and lovely how they've managed to create a story out of a historical event with real shop names and elements of puzzles within. Good variety of dexterity, observational and more. Fun to see some familiar escape room faces in the video segments too.
Absolutely outstanding room, definitely the best in Reading and Basingstoke. I don't think my family has been wowed by the initial impression of a themed room quite as much as this.
Played: 3 Jan 2022Team size: 2Time taken: 51:09Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivestory-driven
Walking on to the smokey cobbled streets of London for our briefing was a great introduction to the room and really immersed you into the theme. The set design was beautiful, you really can appreciate the effort put in to the room. The puzzles were fun, clever and there was plenty to with physical, teamwork and logic all utilised. An excellent room and looking forward to completing their other rooms
We had high expectations when booking Pudding Lane, but they were exceeded.
I'm a sucker for a well-themed and atmospheric room, and boy did this deliver. Not only was the historical narrative unlike others we'd experienced, but the implementation and the set design was outstanding. Everything felt great quality, from the floor finish to the props, from the physical puzzles to the hint system.
Our GM Rachel was spot on, not handholding and only giving us a clue when it was clear we were stuck on one part.
The whole experience from arrival was class. We loved it so much that we booked another room straight away! Great room, would recommend to anyone.
Played: 8 Aug 2021Team size: 3Time taken: 55:56Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersiveepicquite difficult
Absolutely phenomenal room. The hype that has built around this experience is well earned. It's beautifully themed and has such a rich atmosphere to it. Easily one of the most immersive escape rooms I have experienced. To top that all off the puzzles are fantastic. It has a great flow to it and there are some truly unique moments. Miss this room at your own peril. It is an absolute must do.
Great set, great puzzles. I've heard criticisms that the second room could be a bit cramped for large teams, but we did it as a full team of 6 and managed fine.
Those who are less familiar with London history might assume Pudding Lane is confectionary themed - but of course this game is actually named after the place where the Great Fire of London began in 1666. Your team has been sent back in time, not to prevent the fire from breaking out but to determine how it started, and ensure blame does not fall in the wrong place.
My first reaction on entering the room was to gleefully geek out over how beautifully a certain aspect of the scenery had been buil...
London’s burning, London’s burning Fetch the engines, fetch the engines Fire, fire, fire, fire!
London has been in flames for two days and the city is in complete chaos, but whodunnit? Rumours are endless about who started the fire … It must have been the Catholics! No, surely the Dutch are the culprits … or are they?
We enjoyed Imaginarium, and loved Station X, but Pudding Lane is by far one of our favourite games on offer at TimeTrap, cementing itself a place in Liz's Top Ten Escape Rooms list
This game was really immersive, it was clear a lot of effort gone into the room theme, with them even creating an old London street scene. It’s not something we’ve seen done this well that often and draws comparisons to Tulley’s Farms rooms.
When you think of Reading you don't think The Great Fire of London, except if you've visited TimeTrap Escape Rooms in the heart of the city centre. TimeTrap is home to three rooms. These are their new room Curiouser and Curiouser 1871, an Alice through the looking glass themed room, Station X 1942, a Bletchley Park themed room and Pudding Lane 1666, the room we were there to play. We were greeted at the door by our host/games master David who from the get go was on top form. He was enthusiastic and energetic and just so upbeat and positive. It was such a warm welcome and it energised us for our room. He explained the usual health and safety and general escape room stuff as well as some things about the room and then he handed us a bag and led us to the streets of London.
Lists
This game is part of the following user-created game lists:
These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2022, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended.
These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms (out of 1600) in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2021, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended.
These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2023, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended.
