A block and a piece from the beach

Two well worn dart boards in the pub where there are also – surprise, surprise – a diverse number of beers on tap as well as pub snacks and the aforementioned treacle sponge (recommended for those with a very sweet tooth and a very large appetite). Have a look at the old photographs on the walls, meander through to the restaurant (the floorplan has the feel if not the hazards of a pub from less litigious England). Well stocked British goods shop on the corner.

Oh frabjous day, callou, callay – a new pub that opened with two steel tip dart boards – the best set up for playing darts that I have yet seen, too bad it’s in Ohio and not near me in California; even beats Cat & Fiddle.

The Pub

Serves a full menu, extensive selection of domestic and imported beers including my personal favorite Lambic Apple.  Several TVs; quick, friendly service.

The doors to the right of the dart boards can be opened during good weather making the entire space a covered patio.  No, the wall doesn’t lean, apparently I do.

A couple of the patrons got a little boisterous the night we were there but the woman behind the bar knew just how to keep them in line.  Very good clam chowder, not much beer selection, nothing on tap but a great dart board: well lit, no obstructions.  A second board was hidden behind one of the soft tip machines, hope that means every once in a while they move the machine and have two steet tips going.  A dining section up front appears to be for sit down upscale meals.  A pleasant find on a cold night.

A delightful surprise on a Sunday morning

Take your own darts – the house darts are dull – and be prepared to stand a little off kilter because a stage partially obstructs the foul line but other than that a perfect place for steel tips.  Reminiscent of true British pubs in the way it’s broken up into three rooms with cool, sunny open air seating dividing the two bars.  A good size menu although not a stunning array of beers.  The salsa – made fresh daily in-house – is among the best I’ve ever had; the chips, also made in-house, don’t quite do the salsa justice.  The bartender was friendly without being in your face; could have stayed there all day.

With its dark interior and small rooms, Union Jacks in Knoxville, Tennesse has an authentic British feel although the clientele is mostly college kids from the nearby University of Tennessee. 

                                                
There are rumors of food but in only two visits, I’ve seen nary a dish nor a menu.  A very healthy, diverse supply of beer is on hand both in the cooler and on tap including a somewhat scrumpylike cider.  Three dart boards with reasonably good lighting hang on the back wall in the room to the right off the main bar but the mens room is directly behind the foul line so interruptions are fairly frequent.  Gets pretty busy after eight when college is in session.

Triple dart boards

Rear entrance, leads directly to dart boards

On the left hand side coming from Los Angeles, Cafe Bellisimo is the first store passed it.  Wrought iron front eating court is your key (and, of course, the red British phone box) but it’s easy to miss.  Open 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The White Harte

Sister to The Fox and Hounds in Sherman Oaks, The White Harte has more of a bar feel.   Pleasant and friendly bar staff.  Diverse menu served all day; take-out menu, too.  Good selection of draught beers plus two ciders.  Bar full of friendly locals even at three on a Tuesday afternoon.  Three plasma screens tuned to football (yeah, yeah, soccer) over the bar and a larger plasma in the back room.  Good, welcoming atmosphere. 

Two dart boards:  one to the left as you come in the door, a second with better lighting in the rock walled room on the left beyond the bar.

I liked it so much when the temperature was 25 degrees and there was no food available that I went back again when it got warmer…

and I wasn’t disappointed obviously, this is a 25 degrees picture.

Large with a long two sided bar and lots of beer choices but since you’re in Ohio try the local Great Lakes brands; several are available all year long but they also have seasonal choices.  Food was available the second time around and it was a decided cut above most bar food: mussels swimming in butter and garlic, after finishing up the mussels I couldn’t resist sopping up the liquid with loaf bread provided by the friendly server.  Gorged on potato skins that were soft and fresh, not microwaved.  Spent almost two hours in the large, separate billiards/darts room, playing steel tip, eating peanuts from the hull and refilling the beer glass.  Still a sparse Sunday afternoon crowd the last week in April but the calendar shows lots of weekend activities even when it’s cold and especially after the summer season starts in May.

The Upper Deck website

The folks at The Upper Deck Sports Bar in Waterloo, New York have been kind enough to pass along the following info: 

A survey of 1,000 regular pub-goers found that only 10 per cent of them had played darts in the last year – compared with 41 per cent five years ago. Not only that, but four out of 10 men in their twenties had never thrown a dart in their lives – and a similar number had no idea what a bullseye is worth.

As pubs up and down the country are gentrified, the percentage with a dart board has declined to 53 per cent. Blue Square, the online bookmaker which commissioned the study, has now helped launch a Save Our Darts campaign with the aim of installing a further 10,000 darts boards in pubs by 2017. The decline it is seeking to halt has been blamed on the rise of the gastro-pub. “Today, the area once reserved for the oche is filled with dining tables and comfortable sofas,” said a Blue Square spokesman.

Phil “The Power” Taylor, the 13 times darts world champion, is among those appalled by the threat to his beloved sport. He said: “Unless we get behind the campaign to Save Our Darts and encourage more landlords to install a dart board, the game really could be consigned to the history books.”

The survey showed modern drinkers prefer pubs with adventurous food (33 per cent), extensive beer and wine lists (27 per cent), comfortable sofas (15 per cent) and good music (14 per cent). Those salivating at the prospect of a good game of arrows was a tiny one per cent.

The gastro-pub is not totally to blame. While in days gone by teenage boys would include a dart board on their birthday wish lists, today they are more likely to be seduced by the excitement of computer games.

The game of darts is believed to have its origins in medieval times when archery tutors shortened arrows and had their students throw them at the bottoms of empty wine barrels. Soldiers later took some of the shortened arrows to ale houses to show off their skills. The game spread so successfully through the social classes that Henry VIII was reputed to play, and Anne Boleyn presented him with an ornate set of darts.