REVIEW: Whistle Punks Manchester offers the city’s most memorable social experience

While the post-COVID era has produced an explosion of diverse, innovative adult activity and games joints around the city, the world-famous axe-throwing stalwart Whistle Punks continues to offer the ultimate group or couple’s outing with a truly unique social experience in the heart of Great Northern Warehouse. We stopped by at one of Manchester’s favourite party and date night hotspots for an exhilarating and endlessly entertaining 70-minute axe-throwing session, fuelled by free-flowing drinks on tap and astonishingly tasty pizza.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with a relaxed industrial space with a fully stocked bar, kitchen and social zone. We gratefully cashed in our casino-style drinks chips before heading over to one of the lanes where our instructor, Jake, ran us through the health and safety basics from the sanctuary of the spectating area, before inviting us to warm up against one another with a traditional axe tap between the participants – once for peace, twice for war.

After a thrilling if clumsy introductory round led by our helpful and immensely patient supervisor, in which we launched axes at the board using single and double-armed techniques with scattered success, we moved onto the ‘tournament’ rounds. Two friends face off against one another, with everybody going head-to-head using their preferred technique. Everybody scored at least a handful of points, while the occasional bullseye and heart-stopping comeback sent the spectating zone into raptures between mouthfuls of perfectly cooked pizza and pints of crisp lager, in-house IPA and cider.

Following the raucous, nail-biting tournament which ended in a joyously intense decider, it was time for trick shots. Our instructor led us through inverted throws, under-arm lobbing and, in a wildly entertaining final flourish, the ‘champion’s shot’, where the tournament winner has the chance to seal a victory lap by landing both axes in each board at once.

With the winner decided and all axes cast, we moved over to the bar and cherished the rest of our refreshments while already planning our next visit.

A wide array of Whistle Punks packages are available for groups of up to 10, with single tickets priced at £22, exclusive lanes with a private instructor for £220, ‘Big Shot’ lanes with champions’ prizes and two drinks per person for £295 and the ‘Bells and Whistles’ package with all of the above as well as five pizzas and tortilla chips for the whole group for just £375 all in.

To book your session at Whistlepunks for any day or night of the week, click the link below.