Rope Munch Review
The London Rope Munch has been running for over five years, so it’s safe to say that it has solidified itself as a popular event in the London scene.
The rope munch is quite different from most munches in London, as there’s a very different crowd. Sure, you’ll see some familiar faces - but unless you’re active in the rope scene, at events like Anatomie and Camden Open Rope (both of which I will review in the near future, so watch this space) you’re going to meet a lot of new people. While there is definitely a huge intersection between people who are interested in general kink and people who are interested in rope, some people who attend the rope munches have no involvement with anything kinky (other than rope, of course). This explains the difference in the people who attend the rope munch in comparison to others, I think.
I have attended the rope munch quite a few times, and have always enjoyed the crowd there. Almost everyone is very friendly - even if you haven’t met them before. The organisers also provide name stickers, so meeting new people is even easier. Some people will put their social media handles on their name tags alongside their names, which avoids the awkwardness of asking someone for their fetlife. This is completely optional though, at every rope munch I have attended there has always been quite a few people without name badges, but it is a nice touch and I can’t think of any other munches that do this.
There’s no tying going on here due to it being a completely vanilla event, but as with most munches, it’s a nice place to talk to people outside of a play setting and I’m sure that a lot of people find riggers or bunnies here. The organisers mention that they are happy to pass on any information they may have about attendees to people who are curious about tying with them. This is a nice touch, as nobody is screened at the event, so it encourages a lot of safety. The organisers won’t know everyone, and all their information comes from things that other attendees have willingly told them, but it’s a good safety feature to implement. It is not an age fenced event, the only aspect of this munch is that you have to be interested in rope. Sometimes, you will go a whole munch without discussing rope, it’s mostly just a social event to meet new people after all, but then on other occasions you’ll be asked if you’re a rigger or a bunny, where you tie, what rope is good rope, etc.
If you’re new to rope, I would totally suggest going to this munch before you attend a tying event; you’ll get to know about what events are going on and what to expect at them. Alongside this, you will probably see a few familiar faces at the tying events if you do decide to go to them.
This munch is held in a separate room at a popular pub near Farringdon, however at the last one I attended there were some regular people eating at a table there. I’m not sure if they had just overstayed into the booking, or if the pub hadn’t allowed exclusive access, but it did mean a few seats and space had been taken up. In an already crowded space, this made it harder to talk to more people as there just wasn’t the room to walk about or sit with a certain group. I don’t think this has anything to do with the organisers, but I know a few people were questioning what was happening and why there was a table of people who weren’t attending the munch inside this room. This hasn’t happened before, so it may have just been a mistake, but it was quite weird to experience. The nice thing about having a ‘private’ room is that you feel much more able to talk about rope (or kink), so having regular people in the room made it somewhat awkward to discuss rope and other such things.
The rope munch is held on the 3rd Monday of every month, which is nice as it brightens up your Monday - giving me something to look forward to at the start of another week of working. The venue is quite accessible, and serves both food and drink - but there are also local shops and fast food places too, which is very handy as it takes place in the evening, so after most people finish work. It’s a very central location, so easy to get to from most places in London. The organisers also have a mascot, a small plush cat, so you know where the munch is and who runs it (which is so helpful to avoid any confusion over where the munch is if it is your first time attending).
I enjoy this munch quite a lot, I find it very chilled out even if its busy, and the other attendees I have met are really friendly and nice.