đź”” Pub Dartboard Review - The Bell
03 Feb 2026In the last year or so I have been getting into the darts. Seeing as I don’t own a dartboard, I’m forced to play in the pub. I have my preferred locations based on a loose set of criteria; quality of set up, choice of beer and general vibe. Encouraged by Boak and Bailey’s recent Substack, I’ve decided to jot some thoughts down, both for pubs I already visit frequently and for one-off adventures. So far I’ve only had friendly encounters with other darts players, including making friends I now play with on a regular basis.
Spotting a dartboard in a pub as I walk past will always mean a visit in the not-too-distant future. Similarly, spotting a dartboard in a film prompts me to point at it like Gary Anderson pointing at the board when he hit a 9 darter while warming up for the World Championship semi-finals this year. I intend this to be a long-running series, although I suspect they will vary greatly in style, length and frequency. Also note that the final rating is purely based on the darts set up and not the pub overall.
The Bell
The inaugural dartboard review is the Bell off Stokes Croft. I visit fairly frequently due to its proximity to the Cube cinema for pre or post film pints. That is, if I haven’t gone to the Hillgrove, which is a tremendous pub but has no dartboard so shouldn’t really be mentioned. The Bell is the original in Sam Gregory’s Bristol pub empire (Bank tavern, Nova Scotia, Crown Tavern…). Each has a unique vibe, but the Bell stands apart from the rest, sitting much further towards the grunge/dive-bar end of the spectrum than the others. It regularly hosts jungle/DnB nights, however the music on this visit was very laid back. Here’s a Spotify playlist of tracks my phone automatically identified.
This visit was before a screening of Strongroom (which features a dartboard) in the Cube. I had a pint of Guinness which was immaculately poured (and in a nice clean glass the Krennmairs will be delighted to hear) however, I’m not qualified to review Guinness, only dartboards. I was also interested to see they had two Old Speckled Hens (Distinctive and Golden) on cask, both of which I sampled although one was during the post-film discussion where no darts took place. I’ve only ever had it bottled, and the golden ale tasted exactly like the bottled variety to me. I’ll leave it to the beer nerds to tell me if that’s expected.
Finally, the dartboard itself, which is tucked away in a poorly lit corner behind the bar in the back room. The board itself is a decent-quality, if a little aged, Winmau Blade 6. From the damage to the surrounding cupboard the longevity of the board may be due to a large proportion of darts missing the target altogether. In the lingo these are known as carpentry darts.
However, the oche leaves much to be desired, there is no line marked, just a series of wobbly scratches in the floor. There’s also a low beam halfway along the oche, which is hard to avoid when aiming for tops, even for a short arse like me. Judging by the damage to the beam I’m not the only one having the issue.
All in all, I love my trips to the Bell, if there’s nothing interesting on cask I know there will be a decent pint of Guinness, as well as a choice of stalwarts from local breweries such as Joy of the Sesh. However, the dartboard is definitely more of a practice board, more suited to games of round-the-clock or just trying to hammer the bullseye, rather than proper games of 501.