If like us at The Amazing Blog you're always looking for a unique way to spend a night out on the town with friends or a loved one. Well, look no further than Alcotraz - London’s own prison-themed cocktail bar. Alcotraz provides guests with an adventurous twist on an average night out in London.

Alcotraz is definitely not your typical bar experience. When you arrive at Alcotraz you
become an inmate. Inmates change into orange jumpsuits and pose for their mugshots, just like actual prisoners. Individuals must find a way to smuggle their liquor of choice past the
intimidating warden and into the prison. Inside the prison, there are actors stationed as guards, who can assist you in sneaking your alcohol past the warden.

If you successfully make it past the warden with your alcohol, you will arrive at the
prison’s secret bar where other inmates can serve you drinks. To make the prison scene more
realistic, there is no set drink menu at the bar. Rather, guests have to customize their own drinks and work with the ingredients provided at the bar. With prison cells as the perfect backdrop,Alcotraz is sure to be a memorable night out for all guests in attendance.

Alcotraz is open on Wednesday nights from 6:15pm - 10:15pm. On Thursday, Friday and
Saturday nights Alcotraz is open from 5:00pm - 11:15pm. A limited amount of tickets are
available here for £33.99. With the purchase of a ticket to Alcotraz guests are given an hour
and 45 minutes inside the prison and four drinks. We would suggest booking in advance because tickets are selling out fast!

As the daughter of a literacy teacher at Huntercombe Prison, the idea of rehabilitating inmates is something frequently touched upon in my household. With unemployment figures at their worst for decades and the job market saturated with middle-class graduates and skilled professionals unable to find work, it’s hardly surprising that many inmates go on to re-offend. And with the stigma of a prison sentence and a frequent lack in qualifications, it can be a bleak and depressing future for anyone wanting to turn their life around post-prison.

And so, Fine Cell Work, a charity that teaches prisoners the art of sewing while serving time, does a fantastic job of providing a much needed skill that prisoners can utilise both in and outside prison. Founded in 1997 by Lady Anne Tree after decades of campaigning for the right of prisoners to earn money, Fine Cell Work has grown from a bedsit in Bloomsbury to a registered charity which has over 60 volunteers training over 400 prisoners in 29 prison across England.

Proving that the extraordinary can happen even in as austere an environment as prison, Fine Cell Work volunteers train prisoners in paid, skilled needlework to foster hope, discipline and self esteem. And with seventy per-cent of convicted prisoners spending an average of seventeen hours a day in their cell, the therapeutic aspect of learning to sew can be just as important as acquiring a new skill.

Such is the success of the charity that all their classes have waiting lists within the prisons and over 2,500 items were sold in 2010, including cushion covers, quilts and tapestries. Each creation takes approximately one-hundred hours to make, and each stitcher embroiders for, on average, twenty hours a week. And with over 10,000 commissions completed since the charity began in 1997 for clients including The V&A, The Tate Modern and The Royal Palaces, Fine Cell Work is proof that with a lot of determination, dedication and hard work prisoners can piece their lives back together stitch by stitch.

The fantastic pieces produced by Fine Cell Work are all available to buy online; commissions are welcomed and having recently been showcased at the London Design Festival, they are also featuring tonight on BBC 2’s The Culture Show at 7pm. We think both the cause and the concept are incredibly worthy and hope that you do too!