Darts could be a bullseye for your pub

Nick Yates from The Publican provides a modern take on an old pub favourite- darts.

The sport is alive and kicking in pubs and could pull in the punters this summer, say its top stars

Darts legend Phil The Power Taylor is the spearhead of the Save Our Darts Campaign, which claimed last year that darts was facing extinction due to the growth of gastropubs.

Since then, building momentum behind darts has suggested the campaigns claims were slightly hysterical. Darts is back.

Competition organisers and Sky TV have pumped money into the professional game. Tournaments now resemble Las Vegas boxing matches with their bombastic glamour. Accordingly, darts is the second most watched sport on Sky Sports, behind football. This has had a massive impact on consumers, and increased the number of players in pubs. The Professional Darts Players Association estimates that there are more than one million people who play darts once a month or more. According to the last Publican Market Report, 50 per cent of pubs have dartboards.

Could darts go some way to filling the void left by the lack of our footballers involvement in Euro 2008?

Is now the right time for your pub to step up the oche?