Fawlty Towers The Dining Experience | President Hotel

Tucked away in the President Hotel, you’ll find the Fawlty Towers immersive dining experience celebrating its 25th anniversary. Combining TV with theatre, this immersive experience comes at its audience from all angles (quite literally), using improvisation and famous moments from the show's history for a night of rip roaring hilarity and nostalgia for all those who attend.

You start by entering the bar and grabbing a few drinks to take into the meal before the well loved Basil Fawlty comes bustling into the room oozing every ounce of chaos you’d expect, setting the bar high for the rest of the show. Every group is treated with the same amount of charm (or lack thereof!) as they’re ushered into the dining room to be sat at large banqueting tables of around 8 people. Be warned, if you’re not up to Mr. Faulty standards, you might be met with a disapproving tut or eye roll - no one is safe here! 

The rest of this two hour production is made up of memorable scenes from the show as well as improvisation from the cast of three - hotelier Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil and clueless waiter Manuel. The show has a variety of different casts, as it can be found travelling countrywide, but the performers for this particular show were superb. There are times where you genuinely feel like you have stepped back in time into the TV show itself and it’s clear the actors are fans of the show themselves and have taken the time to master their roles, particularly in the scripted scenes. The improvised moments sometimes had a little softer landing but still had the odd moment to laugh along to. 

The performances rely heavily on circumstantial and physical comedy to carry the show through, particularly important due to the lack of any set as the action happens around you while dining. Without the actors being so committed to their roles, the show could very easily fall flat as they are certainly put under a microscope in a room full of fans. The humor is very slapstick and, at times, a little on the nose but clearly what the fellow diners expected as the room was full of laughter. 

Perhaps the show could benefit from a little more narrative if it wanted to feel a bit more like a theatrical production instead of little snippets from different episodes of a show. This isn’t necessarily criticism though, as it doesn’t appear to be what it is striving for. It’s definitely a case of being made for those who have a longstanding love of the show, not someone looking for a night of traditional theatre. Ultimately it’s one of those experiences where you get out as much as you put in, particularly when it comes to some of the cringingly awkward audience participation moments. 

That being said, the dining experience itself leaves a little bit to the imagination. Serving a three course dinner of soup, chicken and veg, and a cheesecake to finish, the food resembles more school dinner than gourmet cuisine, but perhaps this is what aligns best with the material! With prices being around £70 for London dates, one would expect a little better, however for a super-fan of the show, this could be of less importance. 

Overall, the Fawlty Towers immersive dining experience is a laugh a minute for fans of the show that are looking to take it to the next step. It’s not perfect and polished but it’s the sort of humour that awakens nostalgia and brings people together the way the sitcom used to do all those years ago. If you know a group of people who might be looking for an evening out, then it’s certainly worth the ticket. 

Tickets and More Information

★★★★☆ (4*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Rosie Powell