After six months of fierce competition, a Chelmsford pub has been crowned winners of the world’s biggest pub darts competition – the Punch Darts Classic organised by Punch Taverns.
From the 1,100 pubs that entered the 2014 competition – the highest number of participants on record – 32 finalists battled it out for over seven hours at Blackpool’s iconic Winter Gardens on Saturday 18 October.
The team from the Blue Lion, Chelmsford beat off stiff competition from last year’s winners, the Avenue in Durham, to win the competition 6-1. They scooped the top cash prize of £2,500 and also the money can’t buy opportunity to play a professional darts player on stage at the PDC Grand Slam event next August in Blackpool.
The Punch Darts Classic, which is sponsored by Holsten, John Smiths, Guinness and Budweiser and facilitated by World of Darts, began back in May when each pub played at home and away. The teams with the best average scores then competed in regional finals before going through to the national event in Blackpool.
Licensees of the Blue Lion, Dave and Anne Heelis are thrilled to have taken the title. Dave said: “It’s such a great feeling to have finally won and beaten the Avenue! They have knocked us out of the competition in the final stages three years running so it’s a great achievement for the team.”
Punch is delighted to have seen a growth in the event once again. Punch Category Manager Stephen Martin said: “This has been the best national final yet with more players and supporters than ever before. A staggering one in every three Punch pubs has been involved this year and the feedback has been excellent.”
“The competition, which is completely free, has been running for over a decade now and grown each year with new aspects added. This year saw the introduction of a singles competition,” explains Stephen.
The singles event took place on Sunday 19th and saw 152 of the players from Saturday’s team final competing, representing 27 Punch pubs. Congratulations to winner Nick Fullwell from the Brickmakers in Brierley Hill and runner up Craig Anderson from the Shepherds in Houghton Le Spring.
“For the six months that the competition has been running, participating Punch pubs have seen increased trade. We are always looking for ways to help our licensees grow their trade and free pub events like these are a great way to attract custom, particularly on the quieter week nights.”