London on a summer’s Friday night and where better to meet for a post-work drink than London Zoo?
It may sound a bit crazy – and it is a little. London Zoo Late Nights pack in the over-18 crowds from 6 to 9pm on Fridays. The night a group of us went was warm – and yes we headed straight for the bar near the Penguin Beach. Drinks were a little pricey (think £6.50 for a beer, wine or margarita) and your bags are searched on entering to make sure you don’t bring any in, but if some of the money goes towards the zoo, that’s a good thing right?
You can order a picnic (a la Gordon Ramsay) from the website, but we decided to try out one of the many stalls, which included everything from burgers, and paella to mac ‘n’ cheese. There’s also a Champagne bar and a Tiger beer bar (near the tigers).
At some enclosures you could take food in but not drinks, and then some no drinks at all, so we had to slurp our drinks quite quickly before entering the gorilla enclosure, but at Penguin feeding time at 7:30pm we could take our drinks.
Some might say that the zoo was actually outside the enclosures as the animals seemed to be behaving themselves better–the meerkats gave us an odd look, the gorilla turned her back on us (and even scratched things as if to say “I can play that game better than you”), while the tiger roamed around growling, maybe wanting to join in the fun.
The zoo was heaving–and it turns out there are a lot of big kids, some dressed up as 6ft rabbits, while the queue for the face-painting hut was very long (just to remind you this is an over-18s night only).
It all closes at 9pm, which is enough time to wander around the zoo, have a bite to eat and a drink and then head on to Camden for a few more drinks and a bit of clubbing.

London Zoo Late Nights: every Friday night in June and July. Cost: £18.45 (reduced online for groups  of 10 or more). Drinks and food extra. www.zsl.org. Tel: 0844/225-1826.

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