Escape room venue opens in Daventry this Saturday

Journalist Robert Stegwell gets an exclusive sneak peek behind the doors of Dr Trilby’s Extraordinary Escape Rooms. Behind an unassuming door on Daventry High Street, visitors will soon be able to find themselves in the middle of a zombie apocalypse or helping a captive gorilla escape from poachers. Those are just some of the adventures awaiting players at Dr Trilby’s Extraordinary Escape Rooms, a new venue opening at 61 High Street on Saturday 29 August. The attraction is the brainchild of local entrepreneur Chris Willett, who has spent more than a year turning the idea into a reality. Since May 2025, Chris and a team of local tradespeople have transformed the building into a maze of four immersive escape rooms, each inspired by the fictional adventures of the mysterious Dr Trilby. Teams of between two and six players will have an hour to solve puzzles, uncover clues and complete their mission. Those who succeed will earn themselves a place on the venue's leaderboard. Chris said: “If you are not sure what an escape room is, think The Crystal Maze, but instead of a two-minute challenge, you have a whole hour, so there’s a lot more to it.” “We have game hosts on hand who can guide you through the experience, and a control room where staff can monitor the games and offer help when needed.” Each room has its own distinct story and atmosphere. One throws players into a zombie apocalypse, while another challenges them to solve a murder mystery. A third, Meltdown: A Nuclear Nightmare, is a tense race against disaster. The fourth offers a more light-hearted, family-friendly adventure, with players tasked with helping Jo-Jo, a misunderstood gorilla, escape from a jungle cage after being captured by poachers. But the stories do not begin and end inside the games.

The entire venue has been designed around the character of Dr Trilby, an adventurer whose identity remains deliberately vague. Chris said: “There isn't really one definitive version of Dr Trilby. That is part of the mystery.” An attempt to give some authenticity to the character has been made, however. Visitors walking through the venue will notice a series of black-and-white photographs on the walls, apparently documenting generations of the Trilby family. In reality, they are digitally manipulated renderings of the people involved in bringing the venue to life. That mixture of history, fiction and the slightly strange runs throughout the building. Chris has filled the escape rooms with vintage objects, adapting them into puzzles wherever possible. “In the Murder Case room, we have a genuine 1960s prison cell door, just like the kind you would see in Heartbeat,” he said. “And in the Nuclear Nightmare room there are real vintage factory panels and dials which, thanks to my electrician, have been converted into a wonderful, challenging puzzle.” The old-fashioned aesthetic is central to Chris's vision for Dr Trilby’s. He said: “I have something of a soft spot for the past, the world before social media. Things, even the most mundane of things, were made not only to be functional but also beautiful. “With the art deco wallpaper in the corridors, I wanted to create a space that feels timeless and yet somehow dated, that strange, neither-here-nor-there feeling that Kubrick gets in The Shining, or Lynch achieves in Twin Peaks. I wanted that slightly off, maze-like quality.” For Chris, the project has been long in the making. He said: “It’s something I’ve thought about doing for years. My daughter and I have been to loads of escape rooms up and down the country, and we’ve absolutely loved them. “I also thought it would break up the monotony of the streets in Daventry—coffee shop, barber shop, charity shop, vape shop, charity shop—and bring something a bit different to the town.” Escape rooms have become an increasingly popular form of entertainment in the UK, offering families, groups of friends and colleagues the chance to work together to solve problems. Chris believes that this is part of their appeal: “Escape rooms provide a chance for people to get out of the house and do something that’s not only fun and interactive but also stimulating for the mind, instead of just sitting on the sofa and watching Netflix.” Dr Trilby’s Extraordinary Escape Rooms officially opens at 61 High Street, Daventry, on Saturday 29 August. If you cannot wait until then, preview sessions will be held throughout the week from 5pm to 7pm. Visitors attending the preview sessions will receive a free glass of wine on arrival from the venue’s cocktail bar. For booking information, visit Dr Trilby’s Extraordinary Escape Rooms website or its Facebook and Instagram pages.