Bounce Battersea Table Tennis Club: Ping Pong From £6

Bounce Battersea is the only Bounce left in London, and it sits on Level 1 of Battersea Power Station, Turbine Hall B, 342 Circus Road South, London SW11 8DD. Tables start from £6, walk-ins are welcome, and each booking buys 55 minutes of play. It is a social ping pong club with a bar and a pizza kitchen rather than a members' hall, so you can arrive with two friends or twenty and nobody asks about your ranking.

The venue lives inside the converted power station on the Thames, and the site's own directions are built around the Northern Line. Battersea Power Station station is on that line, which Bounce describes as just 15 minutes from Tottenham Court Road. From Vauxhall you can walk for 20 minutes or take a five-minute bike ride, and from Sloane Square the walk across the river is another 20 minutes by its estimate.

Once you are in the building, follow the signs to Level 1 and Turbine Hall B. The tables sit in a big industrial turbine hall, which gives a rally far more room than a pub back room.

Bounce publishes a fixed week: Monday 12:00–22:00, Tuesday 12:00–22:00, Wednesday 12:00–22:00, Thursday 12:00–23:00, Friday 12:00–00:00, Saturday 11:00–00:00 and Sunday 11:00–21:00. Those are the venue's own times on its Battersea page and Friday and Saturday are the nights it stays open until midnight.

If you want a quiet hit, go on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. The student discount also applies on those days only, which gives students 20% off food and drinks with a valid student ID or NUS card. It covers food and drink, not table time, is limited to 16 people, and excludes exclusive areas and private rooms.

The ping pong page lists tables from £6 and says walk-ins are available, with parties of 2 up to 500 and bookings from 25 minutes. The standard booking is 55 minutes, and the last five minutes of the hour are used to refresh the tables so the next group starts on a clean surface. A bigger group is given extra tables or more time rather than being squeezed onto one.

Each Games Guru you add to a booking costs £5 per person. These are the staff who run organised games, team-building rounds and party competitions, and they are worth paying for if you have a birthday or an office social to run. For a straightforward rally with a friend you do not need one,.

Bounce also runs Ping Pong X, which it calls AI-powered. The tables track every spin, slam and edge and show live scores on the table, and there are five modes: Rally X, Power Up, Classic Ping Pong, Hexapong and King Pong. Ping Pong X takes 2 to 16 players, with bookings from 55 minutes.

Rally X is the newest, a team challenge for two or four players in which the aim is to keep one rally alive as the targets shift and shrink, and your best rally counts. King Pong is the winner-stays-on format that suits a bigger group, while Classic Ping Pong simply lets the table keep score. The original game, with real bats and no gimmicks, is still on the menu for anyone who wants to settle a rivalry properly.

On Saturdays and Sundays the bottomless brunch package runs from £30 per person and includes unlimited prosecco, beer and pizza, plus your own ping pong table. You can swap in an AI-enabled Ping Pong X table for an extra £2 per person, or add unlimited cocktails for £10 per person. Roaming Games Gurus join on Saturdays only. A Halloween bottomless brunch is listed for Saturday 31 October from £35 per person.

Bounce also shows the big Premier League and European football games on huge screens with immersive audio, and you can book a games table for pre- or post-match ping pong while bar tables are first come, first served. Under-18s are welcome before 18:00 Monday to Saturday and all day Sunday, and every under-18 must be accompanied by an adult over 21.

Bounce says it was established in 2012 by State of Play Hospitality, and the Farringdon venue on its site now reads like a goodbye note: after an incredible decade of games, parties and memories, it closed, and the company points people to Battersea. That matters if you saw older guides listing an address on Holborn, because it is no longer a place you can book.

The brand also leans on the sport's origins. Its About page traces ping pong to Jaques of London, founded in 1795 and described as the oldest sports and games maker in the world. In 1891 John Jaques II invented Gossima, as ping pong was first known, and in 1901 John Jaques III renamed it Ping Pong, which is why Bounce calls itself the home of ping pong.

Bounce is a night out first and a table tennis club second. The tables are for fun and a serious player who wants coaching, a league or a quiet hall will be happier in a dedicated club such as Table Tennis Fight Club in King's Cross or Barnet Table Tennis Centre. Come here for a birthday, an after-work game with a drink in hand, or a first lesson in how silly a long rally can get.

Skip the late Friday and Saturday sessions if you only want to play, because the same room serves dinner and football fans. A weekday afternoon is the calmer choice, and if walk-in tables are taken, booking a 55-minute slot online is the reliable way in.

Wear flat shoes, since you will be on your feet for the full 55 minutes. Eat before or during your slot, since the pizza kitchen is part of the draw, and bring a student ID on Monday to Wednesday if you want the discount. If a Premier League match is on, book a games table rather than relying on a bar table.

After your slot, walk the riverside paths around the power station and look up at the four chimneys, then ride the Northern Line home from the station beside the power station. A coffee or a post-game stroll is easy to add without going far.