An expanding darts retailer has secured a prime unit in Nottingham’s Bridlesmith Gate.
DartsScene, which opened its first store in Heanor a year ago, has secured premises at 52 Bridlesmith Gate in a deal that took just four days to complete.
The store will now undergo a fit-out and is due to open on Saturday, 23 May. Darts content creator and player Charlie Murphy will open the store.
Arran Bailey, managing director of ALB Group which owns the property, said: “We are delighted to welcome DartsScene to Bridlesmith Gate, a historically popular city street.
“While the demise of the Broadmarsh Centre and the pandemic both dented the footfall on this iconic thoroughfare, that glitch has now been turned around by investment and high-profile businesses returning to the location. Now home to the likes of The Ivy Nottingham and Watches of Switzerland, it is once again flourishing, having re-established itself as a go-to location in the city.”
Interest in the sport has snowballed in recent years. Dubbed the “Luke Littler effect”, viewing figures released by Sky Sports showed the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship final drew a record audience of more than 4.8 million, with a peak of 3.71 million watching live.
Sky’s figures for the following year’s final also remained strong, averaging 2.7 million with a peak of around 3.1 million.
DartsScene currently operates from Derby Road in Heanor. The Bridlesmith Gate venue will be its second premises.
Fuelled by a renewed interest in the sport nationally, the success of the Heanor store has led to the business’s rapid expansion.
Ryan Clarke, director at DartsScene, said: “Thanks to players like Luke Littler, who has shown that a young lad can compete with the best, darts is no longer seen as just a pub game and has grown in popularity.”
Former roofer Ryan, 33, swapped his career of 12 years to follow his passion for the sport.
He said: “My love of darts stems from playing with my grandad from an early age. It’s a game that brings together the generations. In the Heanor shop, we get kids of 6 or 7 coming in with their dads and grandparents.”
DartsScene in the city aims to offer a total darts service and will stock a comprehensive range of darts, boards and related products, as well as providing expert guidance with advice from people who “live and breathe darts”.
Ryan said: “We’ll offer an on-site repointing service while you wait and will operate a ‘try before you buy’ policy, with boards set up in store allowing customers to experiment with a full range of darts, shafts and flights.”
The larger Heanor branch also provides a ‘board hire by the hour’ facility set up with professional oches for solo or team practice.
As the Heanor business goes from strength to strength, Ryan says that expansion was always planned.
He said: “We were originally looking at out-of-town locations for our second branch, but the Bridlesmith Gate location is bang on. The building won’t require much work to make it the perfect place for us and establish this as the darts place to be.
“Having spoken to the surrounding retailers, who described increasing footfall on the street, coupled with the ongoing redevelopment of the Broadmarsh area, we moved at speed to secure these premises.”
