I do like a good table service...

Having a ball: The Young Offenders' Institute night combines music, beer and knock-out table tennis

What was their offence? And why would I want to play table tennis with them?" My friend Dave asked a quite reasonable question when I invited him to a club night called The Young Offenders' Institute for a night of "Beer, music and ping pong".

Thankfully, his fears were groundless. The club's name is a reference to table tennis's image as a game most often played in youth clubs and prisons, but it clearly hasn't put anyone off.

This was only the second of the YOI's monthly gatherings and already word had spread to the point where the venue, The Flea-Pit on Columbia Road, Bethnal Green, was heaving by 8.30pm.

And the reason for that, we soon discovered, was that drinking micro-brewed lager, playing a slightly anarchic communal form of table tennis and listening to some top tunes sure beats standing around a pub talking shop on a Friday night.

The club is the brainchild of 31-year-old twins Will and Dan Lines, two ping-pong enthusiasts who felt there was room for a more laid-back, social version of the game which they could combine with two of their other passions - music and drinking.

The Flea-Pit occupies the kind of corner where you're more used to finding greasy spoons, but it has converted the space into a living room-style bar with internet access and what they call "mother's best retro crockery".

Part boho internet cafe, part Seventies lounge, the bar specialises in organic drinks, including numerous micro-brewed beers from about £2.90 a bottle, and vegetarian nibbles.

The club (for which entry is free), is through a corridor in the back, where the white walls and minimal decor give away its other purpose as a venue for exhibitions and independent film screenings.

This being near Hoxton, you might fear the place would have a whiff of pretentious exclusivity about it, yet it felt more like a private party to which everyone was welcome.

We were instantly made to feel part of the fun by Dan's girlfriend Liz, who greeted us with an usherette's tray full of bats and balls, inviting us to pay £1 each for one of 12 places in the next game.

We were also given two very fetching retro towelling wristbands into the bargain, the significance of which would soon become apparent. The YOI practises a form of table tennis you may have played on a foreign camping holiday in your youth.

The first player serves, then moves round to allow the next player in the queue to receive the return, and so on. When a player fails to return the ball correctly, they lose a "life" and one of their two wristbands.

In between games, the DJs spun everything from Stevie Wonder to The Stooges to LCD Soundsystem. Every so often, pockets of dancing broke out, and partygoers - an equal mix of boys and girls - shook their booties as well as their bats.

Before every game started (about every 15 minutes), the Fanfare from Rocky blasted out of the speakers and all eyes moved to the table rather than each other, as the latest round of combat commenced.

Despite being about as seasoned a table tennis player as Jade Goody is a cryptic crossword solver, after a few hits I found myself growing in confidence. I was eventually defeated when I lurched forward for a shot, only to find the ball coming at me into the corner I'd just come from. I was totally wrongfooted. Damn.

A 26-year-old filmmaker called Georgia won my game. "It's the first time I've played since I was 10," she admitted. So, beaten by a girl, then - and a total beginner, to boot.

But the only way anyone was going look a fool was if they took their defeat with anything less than a smile and a shrug of the shoulders. No McEnroe-style tantrums here.

Surprisingly, it seems table tennis is an effective social lubricant. I couldn't help noticing Georgia's male competitors queuing up to give her a congratulatory hug.

Maybe there's something strangely flirtatious in hitting a small plastic ball across a table at someone, because after Dave had been knocked out by a sharp-serving girl with a shock of blonde hair, he used a discussion of her backhand technique to spend a good half an hour chatting her up.

When the club wrapped up proceedings at 11pm, Dave and I joined a gang of our erstwhile ping-pong opponents and headed off to nearby Old Street for post-match drinks.

I'll definitely be back though, and most of the people I met said the same. It's quite simply a top night out. I think they may have created a monster, with tiny balls.

The next Young Offenders' Institution night is on Friday, 29 February at The Flea-Pit, 49 Columbia Road, Bethnal Green. For more information, check out theyoi.co.uk

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