Shanghai’s beloved bats-and-beer destination Cages Bar and Sports got a serious upgrade after leaving behind their original home on Changhua Lu and moving into a warehouse space at the Jing’an Sports Centre.
Staying true to the space’s namesake, try out the batting cages, where you’ve got a pick of either slow-pitch softball or baseball at 50-70km per hour speeds. If you’re keen on the classics, there are pool tables, dart boards (electronic and standard), foosball and even ‘ice’ hockey. Or climb inside the inflatable ball-shaped oufits for Cages’ now-notorious ‘bubble football’. Prepare to have your bell rung amidst a bit of kicking the ball around and a lot of collisions.
Games are great, but how about booze? As we all know, losing is a lot easier under the influence, and Cages has a full-service bar serving you liquid courage via a nice selection of bottled beers and ciders, plus good range on tap (both bottled and draft for 40-65RMB). Standard cocktails are available from 50-65RMB. You can also load up on energy with their well-executed American-style sports bar grub, like crispy wings slathered in your choice of sauce (65RMB), loaded potato skins (68RMB) and the sinful ‘50/50’ burger (88RMB), a gluttonous patty of half ground beef, half BACON. Yeah, you read that right.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the costs here, too (or lack thereof) – aside from the batting cages, basically everything is free to play. For a turn at bat, you just head to the machines to load up a card with cash; rounds start at about 20RMB each but get cheaper the more you add to your card. Pro tip: batting is half-price every weekday from 9am-5pm and all day on Monday.
All in all, Cages is definitely an entertaining alternative to your standard night at the pub, especially in the company of a rowdy group of friends. Be you athletically challenged or a pro-player, we say give it a go.
