WEST Cumbria’s first escape room has expanded to new premises thanks to its success.

Lakes Escapes is the brainchild of couple Carol and John Watson. The Workington-based business, which offers live escape room games, opened less than two years ago on Peart Road and has now moved to the town’s former Nacro NCT building on Stanley Street.

John said: “We wanted to move to the next step and improve the quality of what we offer and we also wanted to offer more games.”

The challenges are set in fictional locations and players become part of the plot, directed by a game master. Players have 60 minutes to find and solve clues hidden within the room and “escape”.

Lakes Escapes currently offers three games – Baker Street, Dr Frankenscraft’s Monster and Quest For The Throne. John said: “People like to challenge themselves with something that completely takes them away from their day-to-day life and escape rooms are a great way to do that.”

He is in the process of building a new game called Casino Heist, which will be available soon. And the couple are also thinking about other escape room ideas which they are eager to bring to life. The new building also offers disabled access. Carol said: “It’s quite a big satisfaction, we’ve had people waiting for quite a long time to come and play because we couldn’t offer disabled access and it’s great to have these new premises, all on the ground floor, where we can offer bigger rooms, more games as well as access to disabled people.

“The west coast is crying out for things to do. We have a good balance of tourists and local people coming, but we’re finding that more and more locals come to play.

“John enjoys more the process of making the games and building the mechanical side of it, while I love to see the customers enjoying the experience. Two years down the line, the best thing is still seeing new customers not knowing what they’ve gotten themselves into and then absolutely loving it.”

Read the review of Dr Frankenscraft’s Monster below.