What a London team day actually costs

The price on the listing is not the cost of the day. A London team day carries three layers: the activity itself, whatever the venue adds in deposit, minimum spend or service, and what your own group spends on travel, food and the round nobody planned. Get the VAT basis of every figure right and the rest of the budget stops surprising you.

VAT is the line that changes the total

UK prices come with three different VAT positions, and a quote that does not say which one applies has not told you the price. In the 2026 London pricing research behind this guide, sources split exactly three ways.

• –Inclusive. clueQuest states that all prices include VAT. Its corporate escape-room packages run from £31.99 per person for a game, £46.99 with drinks and a keepsake, and £76.99 with catering and up to three hours of space (checked 2026).
• –Exclusive. Mission: Breakout quotes its two-hour Rat Race team-building package at £40 per person plus VAT for 10–18 players (checked 2026). If your budget is a gross figure, that is not the number you will pay.
• –Unstated. Social Pottery, Art Play, Flight Club and London Cookery School publish prices without saying whether VAT is included (checked 2026). Treat those as ambiguous, and ask the partner for a gross total in writing before the figure goes anywhere near a budget.

Two of those partners do tell you an invoice is possible. clueQuest issues a VAT breakdown with every online booking receipt, and Social Pottery says it provides full VAT invoices for corporate bookings. Cultura Club is not VAT registered, so no VAT is added to the platform price and we cannot issue a VAT invoice ourselves. That says nothing about the partner’s own VAT position, which belongs to their business rather than ours.

What real London prices look like in 2026

These are published rates from London operators, checked in 2026. Each one carries the VAT basis described above.

• –A pottery wheel throwing taster at £55 per person, and a hand-building class at £32 per person, with private hand-building from £28 per person (Art Play, VAT not stated).
• –Private craft workshops across candle making, silver ring making, terrarium making, mosaic, wreath making and bauble painting, from £16 to £75 per person (Art Play, VAT not stated).
• –Escape rooms from £31.99 per person including VAT (clueQuest, checked 2026).
• –A two-hour team-building escape package at £40 per person plus VAT for 10–18 players (Mission: Breakout, checked 2026).
• –A private cookery session where £300 covers the first one to four people and each extra person is £65 for the dim sum class (London Cookery School, VAT not stated, checked 2026).
• –Social darts from £9 per person for 60 minutes, with a food and drink package at £40 per person for groups of 10 or more (Flight Club, VAT not stated, checked 2026).
• –A £5 per person studio fee plus the cost of the piece you paint, for a sip-and-paint pottery session (Social Pottery, VAT not stated, checked 2026).

Run two of those against a real headcount and the shape of the budget appears. A headcount of twelve at the private dim sum session pays the £300 floor that covers the first four people, plus £65 for each head beyond the first four, before a drink. Twelve people at a clueQuest game means two rooms rather than one, since the recommended maximum is six players per room, and the minimum non-refundable deposit is charged per room at the value of a team of three. Neither arrangement is wrong. They are just not the number on the card.

The costs the listing does not carry

Four charges sit outside the headline price, and London venues publish very little about them. Settle each one in writing before you commit.

• –Minimum spend. No London venue in the 2026 research published a minimum-spend figure. What is confirmed is that some venues have one and want it paid in advance: Flight Club requires the gaming fee, the minimum spend and any pre-ordered items to be paid before the event, and states plainly that you cannot pay a deposit and settle the rest on the night. That is a cash-flow fact worth knowing before finance signs anything.
• –Deposit. clueQuest’s minimum non-refundable deposit equals the value of a team of three for each room, plus space hire where it applies. Social Pottery asks for a 50% booking fee 15 days before the event, and that fee is non-refundable.
• –Service charge. No venue in the 2026 research published a service-charge percentage, and none published gratuity or corkage figures. Assume nothing. Ask for the percentage in writing, or ask what a final bill for a group your size typically contains.
• –Travel and mobile fees. Some experiences come to your office, and they charge for it: mobile pottery sessions are available for 10 or more guests with a £50–£100 travel fee depending on location (checked 2026).

One more cost has a deadline attached. If you are supplying alcohol at an unlicensed venue, a Temporary Event Notice costs £21 and must be applied for at least 10 clear working days before the event, with a late notice possible 5–9 clear working days before. The event must stay under 500 people at all times and run no longer than 168 hours. Short-notice planners miss that deadline more than any other.

The £150 exemption, and the mistake everyone makes with it

HMRC exempts an employer’s annual function from tax as a benefit if the cost per head does not exceed £150, under section 264 ITEPA 2003 (manual last updated 11 September 2026). Four details decide whether it applies to your day.

• –It must be an annual function. A one-off party for a company anniversary does not qualify.
• –If you run two or more annual functions, the £150 is an aggregate across them, not £150 each.
• –The £150 is not an allowance. Go over it and the full cost per head becomes chargeable, not only the amount above £150.
• –The cost per head includes VAT and any transport or overnight accommodation you provide, divided by everyone attending, including non-employees.

Keep a separate line for the fully loaded cost per head, taxi and VAT included, because that is the number the test uses. The exemption is about tax, not about what a good team day costs.

Cancellation is a cost you agree to in advance

Two sets of terms apply to one booking, and both are worth reading before the date is fixed. Cultura Club’s bands are the same on every experience: cancel seven or more days before the event and the venue’s share is refunded in full, between three and seven days you get 50% of it back, and inside three days there is no refund. Our 10% platform fee is non-refundable once a venue has accepted, and it comes out of the partner’s share rather than being added to your price.

Partners add their own terms on top, and some are stricter than ours. clueQuest gives no refunds at all: with at least 14 days’ notice you can take a voucher for the amount paid, valid for six months and extendable once by another six, and no-shows get nothing. Social Pottery’s 50% booking fee is non-refundable, reschedules need seven days’ notice inside a three-month window, and its public Balham session allows a full refund up to seven days ahead with rescheduling up to 48 hours before. Read the partner’s cancellation page while the date is still negotiable.

A budget worksheet you can work through

Copy these into a document and fill them in before you browse. The order matters: the total comes first, and the per-head figure is the last thing you calculate, not the first.

1. 1.Total approved budget, and the name of the person who approved it.
2. 2.Expected headcount, plus the highest realistic number if the guest list grows.
3. 3.Per-head ceiling: the total divided by the expected headcount.
4. 4.Activity price per person, or the fixed price for the group.
5. 5.VAT basis of that price: included, excluded, or unstated. If unstated, ask for the gross figure.
6. 6.What the price includes: host, space, materials, food, drink, equipment.
7. 7.Venue minimum spend, the amount, and when it becomes payable.
8. 8.Deposit: how much, due when, and whether it is refundable.
9. 9.Service charge, gratuity or corkage, confirmed in writing or assumed at zero.
10. 10.Food and drink bought outside the package.
11. 11.Travel to the venue and home again, and who is paying for it.
12. 12.Buffer for one more headcount increase than you expect.
13. 13.Exposure if the date moves inside the three-day window.
14. 14.Fully loaded cost per head including VAT and transport, for the £150 test.
15. 15.Actual spend written down afterwards, for whoever plans the next one.

Where to spend the money

Most London team days fail in the second half of the afternoon rather than during the activity. A team day that ends with a proper meal beats a longer activity with no food in it. If your group is small, small team activities are cheaper per head and easier to book late. If the headcount is over 20, send the brief to our concierge team rather than assembling it yourself.

Then work the rest of it. The London team day planning checklist turns this budget into a week-by-week timeline, and how to set a budget per head that works covers the approval conversation. If a figure in your quote does not add up, the help centre explains the booking and refund sequence in plain terms.