“There was definitely a moment of discomfort at the start,” says Deena, but she says her visit to a so-called rage room felt very different to what she’d expected.
She didn’t feel chaotic or aggressive smashing things up, but instead “surprisingly controlled and a lot more intentional”.
“Once I settled into it, it felt like more of a physical release as opposed to an emotional outburst,” she told the BBC.
Deena is one of a reportedly growing number of women choosing to pay to hammer and bash old items such as TVs, furniture and crockery whilst kitted out in specialist protective gear.
The concept of rage rooms is believed to have originated in Japan in the late 2000s, whilst a woman called Donna Alexander says she created an “anger room” in her Texas garage around the same time, allowing people to come in and smash up items that had been fly tipped.
There are still only a small number of venues in the UK where people are handed a baseball bat and let loose. They’ve been touted as one way to alleviate stress and release pent-up anger.
But what seems surprising is the client base, with some owners saying most of their customers are women.