The Flight Club is vast, the new social darts and cocktail bar taking over both the former Pizza Pilgrims and Mowgli sites in Oxford’s Westgate (Mowgli has now moved around the corner), and so much bigger than expected.
Packed to the rafters last night at the official opening party, guests were offered a glimpse of what to expect as Prosecco, beer, wine and cocktails circulated, trays of pizzas, mini burgers and canapés were proffered, and darts played in the special open booths, while the DJ played some absolute classics.
If you’re not sure if Flight Club is for you then think again, because we had no idea what to expect on arriving but had so much fun, mainly with a bunch of complete strangers.
But then that’s the point of Flight Club. Pitch up with your friends, family or work colleagues, have a drink, something to eat, catch up in their bustling bar, sign up for darts and then find yourself pitched against a team you’ve never met.
Our game was already underway when we joined, seven friends battling it out for supremacy. If you know nothing about darts it doesn’t matter, because, a bit like when you go bowling, the animated score boards do all the hard work for you, setting the variety of games, telling you what score you need to get, or which segment to hit. You just have to enter your name and it all becomes apparent.
The competition was fierce. The team just finishing their game urging each other on fiercely, the girls finally triumphing. Adding us into such a close knit group could be intimidating, but as it’s all about social darts at Flight Club, it’s a communal experience, so no one batted an eyelid.
Were we any good? Pretty rubbish actually with moments of brilliance. Did we care? No, because it was so entertaining. One of our team won the first game by pure fluke, another couldn’t get the darts in the ring. I got a bulls eye but still came last. Randomly paired by the Flight Club automatic dart machines, we battled it out with each other, tensions rising, bursting out with cheers or encouragement, all barriers around age or backgrounds null and void.
And suddenly our hour was up, far too soon. “I wish we’d had longer,” one of our team said forlornly, as we gathered for a group pic. And as we traipsed off home we realised we’d had a lot of fun, met lots of new people, drunk a bit too much, snaffled some pizza and had a top night out! Not for the faint-hearted perhaps, but one things for sure the Flight Club Party is going to go on and on!
Flight Club opens today (Nov 22) at Oxford Westgate roof terrace. Book here: https://flightclubdarts.com/location-oxford Â
