Social darts pioneer Flight Club, which calls itself the home of ‘unexpected, ridiculous joy’, is coming to Exeter.
The business, which has its roots in a rainy day in a Devon pub, has pioneered ‘social darts’ and already has outlets in London, Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff among others.
There are Flight Clubs in the USA, Australia and Ireland, and now there will be one in Exeter’s Queen Street – the closest one yet to the birthplace of the concept.
Flight Club has lodged a licence application with the city council for 79-81 Queen Street, which was formerly the home of the Revolution bar which was one of 21 closed by its parent company in January this year.
The licence is for the sale of alcohol, recorded music and indoor sporting events until midnight from Sundays to Wednesday and until 1am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Late-night refreshment would be available during the same hours, and a licence until 1.30am is being requested for much of the month of December.
According to the Flight Club website, in 2012 co-founders Steve Moore and Paul Barham were in a pub in Croyde on a rainy day where a young crowd were ‘going crazy’ over a game of darts in the corner.
The site goes on: “This wasn’t like traditional darts. It was loud, fast and exciting.”
The co-founders say they saw an opportunity to ‘combine the warmth and nostalgia of the traditional British pubs that they loved with the high energy of social darts’.
From early sessions in Steve Moore’s garden shed, they built the business to the point where they opened their first flight Club in Shoreditch in London in 2015.
The website goes on: “Since then we’ve witnessed the excitement of social darts coming to life, with groups of friends going wild in the oche and every throw as energised as the last.”
Flight clubs are known for their distinctive decor and electronic video scoring systems. They appeal to workplace and student groups.
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