London with teen boy 17

[Parentsinlaw]

We are going to see DH friends near Brixton. While DH is catching up with them
id like to take DS to lots of varied places - he likes climbing, cars, electronic gizmos ( making and I’m sure he’d love latest technology)puzzles, escape rooms..umm. I’d like to take him to a very classy restaurant as well as wierd and wonderful , I was thinking of all the Indian restaurants in brick lane? It’s so long since I’ve been.
not even sure if he’d like Tower of London type stuff if it’s become really anodyne.
help!

What about a guided rock and roll walk around the Soho area? I did one with this today and it’s brilliant.

O2 climb might appeal to him? Street art tours in Shoreditch are good and would combine well with Brick Lane for curry.

Perhaps a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt? We’ve done several from a company called In The Hidden City.
There’s a Monopoly-themed restaurant called Top Hat. The food is surprisingly good. The restaurants up the top of Sky Garden are also good and the view is incredible. You need to book a long time in advance though.
Zip World London at Stratford is getting a bit of hype at the moment. It’s fairly new and we haven’t tried it yet, but it might be something your DS would enjoy.

If he likes cars, I went here on a work trip and it was brilliant fun https://f1arcade.com/uk/london?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21517197524&gbraid=0AAAAAo8x3bISeekaPvuZvyWFQahPOXq8E&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0oz6u92OjwMV25NQBh1v4AkCEAAYASAAEgLV1_D_BwE

There aren’t many Indian curry houses left in Brick Lane. More clothes shops now.
If he’s into popular culture and comics there’s the Forbidden Planet shop in Shaftesbury Avenue.
Apple shop on Oxford Circus?

The F1 experience is great. I'd go to Brixton Market or Southbank for food rather than Brick Lane. Camden obviously - Junkyard Golf is there. For a classy restaurant my boys love Hakkasan because it looks like something where there'd be a shootout in John Wick (their words, not mine - it does have a decadent, underground yet luxurious feel and the food is amazing.)

But Brixton has loads to see, like the Ritzy, the market, tons of diverse eating places, the Brixton academy…

Me & my DS’s (24 & 21) recently went to Draughts board game cafe. Great relaxed atmosphere, lovely food and it is down the Leake Street arches which has amazing graffiti art

Oh wonderful people thank you! This is just what I was looking for - slightly off the wall stuff ( to me anyway) I’d forgotten you could climb o2, and the f1 sounds great! He layovers chess too so the drafts thing and skygarden and EVERYTHING, thank you! Am excited, can you tell? Haven’t been since kids were tiny. Funny when you move out, you think you’ll go back lots.
thank you!

I agree the street art Shoreditch tours are brilliant for teens and you can end up in Brick Lane for a curry. The Science Museum if he hasn't been is very fun - has a space satellite and an early computer which takes up a huge room but has less memory than the microchip in a singing birthday card. Lots of mind-blowing stuff like that. Depends when you are going but Punchdrunk has a live-action video game starting soon (August mainly sold out) where you pair up with two other people who guide you through a live game then you swap over and you are the controllers and they are the in-game characters. Sounds brilliant to me. That's over in Woolich. I think you can get the boat all the way there down the Thames.

He's nearly an adult can't you ask him to do some research himself and see what he wants to do. He isn't a small child mum shouldn't be looking for things to entertain him.

Maybe she has. How would we know? Or maybe it's a surprise trip. Or maybe she is just excited about taking him around the city and wants some suggestions to discuss with him. Why be so joyless about her enthusiasm?

Because choosing activities for a nearly adult might not be stuff he wants to do. He's old enough to research it.

Thanks everyone. We had a lovely time - thank you for all your suggestions - teen actively didn’t want to research and didn’t want to say where to go, it’s beyond him at the moment so thank you.
cinaferna thank you for the support!
oneneatblueirca ‘He's nearly an adult can't you ask him to do some research himself and see what he wants to do. He isn't a small child mum shouldn't be looking for things to entertain him.’
just to let you know that I found your post unnecessarily hurtful, judgemental And yes, joyless. Perhaps it would be nicer if you took a moment to consider that other people may be dealing with a different reality to yours before commenting from what sounds like a very high horse. If our son was capable of researching don’t you think he would have?
please be a little bit more aware- and kind on other posts. Thank you.

Where did you go in the end? I like ideas too

Ended up at..Tate modern as there is some wierd installation that showed teen art isn’t just old pictures.
greenwich museum and boat down Thames - good but packed, we had to let 4 boats go before we could get on one. Brixton, borough market ( also rammed) south bank, islington. So not everywhere I’d hoped, or you all suggested! But a lot of time hanging out with friends in houses and parks.
eating asian and Korean.
It was very hot and I’m amazed at how crowded everywhere is now! Definitely book everything in advance!