This Christmas, Club Curling returns to Coal Drops Yard with a twist – the arrival of an immersive après-curling experience that’s guaranteed to awaken your senses!
Designed in collaboration with Professor Barry Smith and Professor Ophelia Deroy from the Centre for the Study of the Senses, the Club Curling Lounge will host a series of fun and festive science experiments for us to explore how we use sight, sound, scent, taste, touch and more to experience this most magical time of year.
Visitors are invited to ditch their screens and reconnect with their senses and the people around them in a journey through five interactive sensory stations — each hosted within Club Curling’s cosy, alpine-inspired Lounge, open to the public from 7 November until 1 March 2026.
Senses Unwrapped
In collaboration with Professor Barry Smith and Professor Ophelia Deroy from the Centre for the Study of the Senses and London artist, Patrick Hughes, the experience blends art, science and festive tradition in a series of multisensory installations and experiments.
According to Professor Smith, one of the world’s leading experts on sensory perception, humans possess between 22 and 33 distinct senses, far beyond the well-documented five. And they don’t operate in isolation; they merge and interact to change how you experience your wintery hot chocolate or Christmassy champagne.
He says: “Christmas is not just a celebration, it’s a carnival of sensations. As the days shorten and we wrap up to keep warm, our brains search for stimulation that is novel, surprising and emotionally resonant. That’s why we’re bringing our sensory stations to the Club Curling Lounge so we can reawaken our senses and reconnect with ourselves, our surroundings and with one another.”
The stations include a series of sensory installations that challenge perception and celebrate the richness of fully lived experience:
Moving Magic: Patrick Hughes’ illusion makes static objects appear to move—reminding us that not all magic is digital.
Wonderous Weights: Curling stones defy expectation through the size-weight illusion.
Thermal Grill: A thermal grill blends hot and cold sensations into something surprisingly intense – and safe!
Velvet Hands: A soft-touch moment designed to evoke warmth and comfort through contact with a surprising texture.
The Sound of Champagne: Multisensory tastings explore how we experience flavour and emotion.
Club Curling
Teams of up to six people can play on each of the six colourful, sustainable curling lanes from 12pm to 9pm every day (last slot 8pm), with sessions lasting 50 minutes. Avid curlers will be able to play for just £9 per person off-peak and £12 per person during peak times (children under 12 play for free when accompanied by an adult), making it the perfect activity for the whole family to enjoy this festive season.
Once again, King’s Cross will make a £1 donation from each ticket sale to local homelessness charity, New Horizon Youth Centre.
Club Curling players are encouraged to pre-book online to avoid disappointment. Some lanes may be available on a ‘turn up and play’ basis.
In a stylish celebration of winter sports, this year’s Club Curling Lounge takes inspiration from Lo Spirito del ’56 with a modern take on vintage Italian ski culture. Serving festive cocktails, Morty’s hot chocolate, mulled wine and coffee, the bar will create an atmosphere that’s both nostalgic and new; perfect for celebrating stylish Italian culture in the heart of King’s Cross.
Christmas trees
Kings Cross will once again sparkle with a brand new 60-foot Christmas tree to be unveiled in Granary Square, adding even more festive magic alongside the return of another 50-foot Christmas tree wrapped in 15,000 low-power lights for all to enjoy in Coal Drops Yard. Over in Lewis Cubitt Square, Liliane Lijn’s much loved ‘Temenos’ installation returns this November – an immersive, 11-metre-high geometric winter sculpture made of 19 neon poles that shift in colour from golden yellow to cool winter blue.
Club Curling will run from Friday 7 November 2025 until Sunday 1 March 2026. First play begins at 12pm and last play at 8pm. Book your tickets from 17 October here: https://www.kingscross.co.uk/event/club-curling.
