This Week in the UK Scavenger Hunt Tasks - 20 August 2026
From Westminster to your local high street, the UK news cycle has delivered plenty of talking points. Locate a shop or café notice that explicitly mentions “energy costs”, “utilities” or “electricity/gas prices” as the reason for a price change, Compare the unit price (per kWh) displayed on a public EV charger screen with the unit price on a second charger in the same town, and photograph both screens, and more are among the headlines we have turned into 31 scavenger hunt tasks you can spot in the real world.
Each task is tied to a real story, trend, or cultural moment from this week. Grab your phone, head outside, and see how many you can tick off.
This Week's Tasks
1. Locate a shop or café notice that explicitly mentions “energy costs”, “utilities” or “electricity/gas prices” as the reason for a price change.
* After this week’s reporting on higher energy bills pushing inflation up, many businesses explain price rises on customer notices.
2. Compare the unit price (per kWh) displayed on a public EV charger screen with the unit price on a second charger in the same town, and photograph both screens.
* With energy costs in the spotlight this week, people are noticing and comparing public charging prices more than usual.
3. Find a supermarket shelf-edge label that highlights a “price lock”, “locked price”, or “low price” message and capture the label clearly.
* After this week’s inflation update, retailers lean heavily on price-lock messaging to reassure shoppers.
4. Spot a bus stop poster or on-bus notice that mentions “free bus travel” for disabled people and includes a time-related phrase like “24-hour” or “24/7”.
* Following this week’s announcement about 24-hour free bus travel for disabled people, operators are expected to update passenger information.
5. Visit a local bus station or travel hub and identify a customer help point or accessibility assistance sign (wheelchair symbol) next to timetable information—capture both in one photo.
* This week’s focus on disabled bus travel puts accessibility signage and help points back into everyday conversation and visibility.
6. Track down a “priority seat” notice on public transport (bus, tram, or train) and photograph the exact wording.
* As disabled travel access is highlighted this week, priority seating reminders are especially relevant and visible.
7. Find a Met Office-branded yellow weather warning graphic displayed on a public screen, noticeboard, or local venue’s social notice area and capture it.
* Yellow thunderstorm warnings issued this week are widely shared and sometimes printed or displayed in public-facing places.
8. Document a temporary floor sign or barrier in a public building that references wet floors or rain (e.g., “Caution Wet Floor”) and include a view of the rainy street outside if possible.
* With heavy showers and thunderstorms in the forecast this week, public venues often put out extra wet-weather safety signage.
9. Find a drain, gully, or street flood point with a council “Keep clear”/“Do not block” style marking or nearby notice and photograph it.
* This week’s flash-flood risk coverage makes drainage and ‘keep clear’ messaging more noticeable around towns and cities.
10. Spot a shop entrance that has put out an umbrella stand, umbrella bag dispenser, or a handwritten “Umbrellas here” style prompt and capture it.
* After this week’s heavy rain and thunderstorm coverage, wet-weather customer ‘set-ups’ appear at entrances.
11. Find an official-looking “hosepipe ban” notice (council, water company, or venue rules board) and photograph the key line that states the restriction.
* A new hosepipe ban beginning this week is the sort of rule change that shows up on public notices and venue boards.
12. Seek out a garden centre or DIY aisle display that promotes water-saving items (watering can, water butt, or drought-tolerant plants) and capture the display header card.
* With drought and hosepipe-ban discussion in the news this week, water-saving retail displays become especially timely.
13. Photograph a public drinking water fountain or bottle refill point in use (or with a visible ‘refill’ sign) in a town centre.
* This week’s weather coverage about heat, rain, and what might come next keeps hydration and refill points in everyday focus.
14. Find a school, college, or sixth-form building displaying a “Good luck with your results” message for GCSE/BTEC students and capture the wording.
* GCSE and BTec results week is here, and supportive messages appear on campus signs and nearby community boards.
15. Spot a stationery or discount shop end-cap that pushes ‘back to school’ essentials and photograph an item explicitly labelled for exams (revision cards, flashcards, or folders).
* With results day dominating this week, ‘next steps’ and back-to-school shopping ramps up in UK high streets.
16. Visit a library and locate a public notice about study spaces, quiet zones, or extended quiet hours—photograph the notice.
* Results week prompts many students to use libraries for planning resits, applications, or the next term, making study-space notices feel especially timely.
17. Track down a cricket-themed promotion in a supermarket or corner shop (e.g., ‘match day snacks’ near crisps) and photograph the display header.
* England vs Pakistan at Headingley is prominent sports coverage this week, often triggering match-snack merchandising.
18. Find a public venue (pub, community centre, sports bar, or club) chalkboard that advertises live cricket and photograph the listing that includes ‘England v Pakistan’.
* This week’s Test match coverage often shows up on venue boards as places advertise screenings and commentary.
19. Visit a train station and photograph a poster or information board about development, new homes, or regeneration that is visibly placed near the entrance or concourse.
* This week’s push to fast-track new homes near transport hubs makes station-area development messaging feel especially current.
20. Identify a ‘new homes’ or ‘coming soon’ hoarding within a 5-minute walk of a railway or tram station and capture the station name and the hoarding in one shot.
* This week’s government focus on building near transport hubs makes station-adjacent housing marketing particularly topical.
21. Find a council planning notice posted on a lamppost or board that mentions a development application and photograph the section that lists the site address.
* With national attention on speeding up housing delivery near transport hubs, local planning notices feel extra ‘of the moment’ this week.
22. Spot an EV parking bay sign that includes wording about ‘while charging’ or a time limit, and photograph the sign with the bay markings.
* This week’s consultation on the ZEV mandate keeps EV infrastructure and rules in the public eye, including bay signage on streets and car parks.
23. Find a car dealership forecourt that has a prominent ‘electric’ or ‘EV’ banner and photograph a vehicle badge that clearly shows it’s an electric model.
* With the ZEV mandate consultation in the news this week, EV messaging is especially visible in dealership marketing.
24. Visit a high street phone shop and locate a display that promotes “AI” features on a handset demo card; photograph the words ‘AI’ and the phone model name together.
* After this week’s London Tech Week speech, ‘AI’ messaging is extra prominent in everyday tech retail displays.
25. Find a co-working space, university building, or library noticeboard advertising a tech talk, coding meetup, or innovation event and photograph the event title and date.
* London Tech Week coverage this week boosts the visibility of local tech events and ‘innovation’ meetups on public boards.
26. Track down a GP surgery or pharmacy noticeboard that mentions “waiting times” or “appointments” and photograph the line that explains how long people might wait.
* This week’s reporting on NHS waiting lists and targets makes waiting-time messaging on local boards especially topical.
27. Visit a hospital or clinic entrance area and identify a sign that directs people to ‘Self check-in’ or ‘Check-in kiosk’; photograph the sign and the kiosk area.
* This week’s coverage of NHS efficiency highlights practical changes like self check-in, which are visible in many outpatient areas.
28. Find an NHS-style public sign in a clinic or hospital that promotes ‘18 weeks’ or ‘18-week’ as a target/standard and photograph the wording.
* With headlines this week about hitting the 18-week waiting-time target, any ‘18-week’ messaging is particularly timely to spot.
29. Spot a travel agent window or railway poster promoting UK regional city breaks (e.g., ‘Explore Manchester/Birmingham/Edinburgh’) and photograph the destination headline.
* This week’s reporting that regional business travel is growing faster than London makes regional travel promotion feel especially on-trend.
30. Find a platform display board at a main station that shows a high volume of services to non-London UK cities and photograph the board with at least three regional destinations visible.
* With regional travel growth in the news this week, the ‘regional over London’ travel narrative is easy to capture on station boards.
31. Spot a magazine rack (supermarket or newsagent) where a cover line mentions Prince Harry and Meghan, and photograph the cover text (not just the masthead).
* This week’s major coverage about Harry and Meghan moving back to the UK is likely to dominate magazine cover lines in shops.
How to Play
These tasks are designed for BucketRace, the UK's favourite scavenger hunt platform. You can play solo or in teams, and each task is meant to be completed in the real world. Snap a photo as proof, share it with your group, and see who can complete the most.
New tasks are published every week based on what is actually happening in the UK, so no two weeks are ever the same. Follow us for next week's challenges.