Shoreditch Restaurant Rascals Closes, Allowing Large Adult Ball Pit to Double in Size

A Shoreditch restaurant made famous for announcing a zero tolerance approach to “straight backs and polite small talk” has closed.

Rascals, which opened on Curtain Road two years ago and which also hosted a cheese-pulling world championships, has been taken over by its next-door parent company, Ballie Ballerson — a large adult ball pit, which offers pizza, fries, pornstar martinis, and fizzy wine, and access to a variety of ball pits. Ballie Ballerson is now two and half times bigger, occupying 9,500 square feet of premium Shoreditch real estate, with a capacity of 550. It follows “Ballie”’s recent opening on Berwick Street in Soho.

“Having seen Ballie Shoreditch grow from strength to strength and with customers screaming for more balls, Ballie needed the extra space,” the company says. Founder and CEO Wenny Armstrong added: “We wanted to keep our signature glowing ball pit but the aim of the game is to always be bigger, better and even more fun.”

The website, which uses the phrase “Get balls deep in every sense,” is matched only by its Facebook page, which announces, with a graphic bearing the slogan “Hakuna Mimosa It means it’s brunch time” and a caption clarifying: “This is what Timon & Pumbaa meant to say. Trust us. It’s time for bottomless fizz, pornstar martinis, pizza and ball pits...”

Rascals, an unconventional restaurant, introduced not only a waterproof private dining room, but a ‘gunge chair’, ‘jelly wars’ and water fights. It called itself the “perfect place to let loose” and actively encouraged customers to spray champagne at each other. It didn’t last.

The company is now planning to expand its ball pits elsewhere in the U.K. “Be sure to keep your eyes peeled in regions outside of London for future opportunities to get balls deep,” the company says.

Wow.