Prison Island is coming to Leeds, and no, it is not an escape room

Leeds is getting a Prison Island. The competitive entertainment concept opens its first venue in the North of England at the Merrion Centre this winter, taking around 11,000 sq ft across two floors and creating 18 full and part-time jobs.

The name does most of the work, though it also sets up the wrong expectation. This is not an escape room. Teams of up to five make their way through a series of themed cells, each a self-contained challenge built to test a mix of physical ability, dexterity, problem-solving, and how well a group functions under mild pressure. There is no single puzzle to crack and no locked door at the end of it. Teams choose which cells to take on and in what order, which is the operator’s argument for why two visits need not look the same.

Alongside the cells, the venue will run interactive darts and interactive golf, the two formats that have done more than any others to fill large city centre units over the past few years.

Leeds becomes the fourth Prison Island in the UK, after Belfast, Maidstone and Camden, and joins a network the company puts at more than 110 locations worldwide. The Leeds site is being run by the operator behind the Belfast venue, which has been open for seven years and forms part of a wider push into new regions across the UK and Ireland.

Ryan Lyttle, director of Prison Island Leeds, said: “The Merrion Centre is a superb location and felt like a natural fit for Prison Island. It’s a busy, well-established leisure destination in the heart of Leeds, with excellent transport links and strong footfall from residents, students, workers and visitors to the city. Being surrounded by other leisure, hospitality and entertainment operators also makes it an ideal location for a competitive socialising concept like ours.”

He added: “We’ve seen how well the concept works in Belfast, particularly because it appeals to such a broad audience and every visit can be completely different. With Prison Island alongside a range of additional activities, we’re excited to create a venue where people can come together, compete, have fun and discover something they haven’t experienced before.”

The location makes a certain amount of sense. The Merrion Centre sits in the Arena Quarter next door to the first direct arena, within a short walk of the universities, and recorded almost 9 million internal visits in 2025. It has been owned and managed by Town Centre Securities since it opened in 1964, and has spent the past decade steadily tilting away from shops and towards food, drink and leisure.

Charles Newman, asset management director at Town Centre Securities, said: “Its decision to launch its first venue in the North of England here in Leeds is a fantastic endorsement of the Merrion Centre as a destination for leisure and entertainment. The scale of the new venue, combined with the variety and interactive nature of the experiences on offer, will bring something genuinely different to our visitors.”

The venue is being aimed at friends and families as much as at office Christmas parties, corporate bookings and team-building days. It is due to open in December, in time for Christmas, with launch plans that the team are so far refusing to be drawn on.

Prison Island Leeds opens at the Merrion Centre in December 2026. merrioncentre.co.uk