Where: Boulebar
Pétanque, also known as 'boules', is the played in French parks and village squares, and dare we say it, usually by older gentlemen. Played by two teams, the objective is to throw hollow metal balls (the boules) as close as possible to a smaller wooden ball called the cochonnet (meaning 'piglet', for some reason). The team with the most points, i.e. that has thrown the most boules closest to the piglet, wins.
Now the team behind Boulebar have brought the classic French game to London. According to their blurb they started a pétanque club as far back as 1991, so these are clear enthusiasts. Boulebar in the Southbank is a semi-outdoor heated venue overlooking the river, while the Spitalfields location proposes a more sophisticated experience with a restaurant serving French charcuterie to be washed down with lashings of pastis, the liquorice-flavoured aperitif.
