Flight Club

Is the Peter Pan syndrome that has hit London in the form of adult ball pools and cereal cafes really just a cry for help? Are Londoner’s in need of other distractions that take away the emphasis from simply going to pubs and drinking in them? Crazy golf, ping pong and bowling already provide us with places to ‘drink and do’ and now we have darts coming in the form of Old Street’s Flight Club.

Clearly darts and drinking have history but not like this. Take ten-pin bowling and swap the balls for arrows and you can imagine the scene at Flight Club on a busy Thursday night. Proper boards are dotted throughout the two-level bar and come hooked up to screens, which automatically display your scores and names, randomizing turns and offering alternative challenges to the classic 501. This is deluxe darts – and you don’t even have to know how to count.

Either turn up and try your luck or ‘book an oche’ in advance to be sure of a board. The bar is stocked with craft beers; a full range of cocktails and plenty of spirits and the dazzling newness of the whole experience almost fools you into thinking that darts is something new, something that hasn’t been readily available in pubs for decades. We like it. And when sharing pizza paddles, croquettes and curly fries start turning up to the oche along with the drinks, the appeal is obvious.

With DJs providing music in the evenings, Flight Club becomes darts hall-cum-club, its expensive interior of dark wood paneling, buttoned leather and bright bulbs (so many light bulbs) making you forget all about the grotty dartboards in pubs with sticky carpets. You know darts is old, you know it has always been in pubs, but at Flight Club it just seems… newer, better and way more fun.