Peckham has quietly become one of the best days out in London. Rooftop bars, independent galleries, one of the country’s best-loved libraries and a food scene that punches far above a single high street. It is also home to our horror escape rooms, which means you can build an entire day around SE15 without getting back on a train.

Here is how we would plan it.

Late morning: start with coffee and the market

Begin on Rye Lane. It is loud, chaotic and completely unlike anywhere else in the capital, with fabric shops, fishmongers, record stalls and bakeries stacked on top of each other. Grab a coffee, walk the length of it and let the day settle in.

If you are here at the weekend, the surrounding streets fill with stalls and the whole area shifts up a gear.

Early afternoon: art, books and a rooftop view

Peckham Levels turned a multi-storey car park into studios, food stalls and bars across several floors. It is a good place to eat cheaply and well before anything else.

From there, the Bussey Building houses galleries, workshops and a cinema. Peckham Library, with its striking overhanging design, is worth a look even if you have no intention of borrowing anything – it won the Stirling Prize and it deserves the fuss.

If the weather holds, walk up to Peckham Rye Park. Twenty minutes of green space is a useful reset before the afternoon turns dark.

Late afternoon: get scared

This is the part we may be slightly biased about. Our venue at 43 Peckham High Street runs six live actor horror scenarios, each 60 minutes, for teams of two to eight.

You could be exorcising a demon in [Murder Mansion](https://www.horrorescape.co.uk/scenarios/murder-mansion), escaping a family of cannibals in Cabin Fever, filming a documentary that goes badly wrong in Ravenswood Asylum, or trying to get out of a carnival run by a murderous Ringmaster in [Freakshow](https://www.horrorescape.co.uk/scenarios/freakshow). Every game is private, so it is only ever your group in the room.

Book a late afternoon slot and you finish with plenty of evening left. Arrive 10 to 15 minutes early for your briefing and wear something you can move in.

How scary is scary?

Every room carries a fright factor rating so you can match the intensity to your group. Twisted Tales has no live actor and works from age 10 upwards. The rest are 16 plus, or 13 to 15 with an adult on site. If your group wants more, you can pay to increase the fear level and get closer, more sustained scares from our actors.

Full details on ages, prices and timings sit on our [FAQs page](https://www.horrorescape.co.uk/faqs).

Evening: eat, drink, compare screams

Peckham after dark is where the area really earns its reputation. Rooftop bars, Nigerian and Caribbean restaurants that have been feeding the neighbourhood for decades, craft beer taprooms tucked into railway arches, and late-night music venues along Rye Lane.

The best bit is that you will all have something to argue about. Who found the key. Who screamed first. Who stood behind everyone else for the full hour and claims they were guarding the door.

Getting here and getting around

Peckham Rye station is the hub, served by Overground, Southern and Southeastern services, and it is a ten minute walk from our door. Buses 12, 36, 136, 171, 343, 436 and several night routes all stop at Peckham Library or Harris Academy nearby.

Driving is doable but there is no allocated parking at our venue. Lidl across the road offers 90 minutes free, Morrisons gives two hours five minutes away, and there is a pay and display multi-storey on Cerise Road. Everything is mapped out on our [how to find us page](https://www.horrorescape.co.uk/how-to-find-us).

A rough timetable

– 11am: coffee and a walk down Rye Lane
– 12:30pm: lunch at Peckham Levels
– 2pm: galleries, library, park
– 4pm: horror escape room
– 6pm onwards: dinner and drinks

Make the escape room the centrepiece

A good day out needs one thing everyone remembers, and an hour trapped in the dark with a live actor tends to do the job. Weekend slots go first, so book ahead.

[Choose your scenario](https://www.horrorescape.co.uk/scenarios) and build your Peckham day around it.