I will soon be moving such that the Duke of York becomes my local (not including pubs that don’t have dartboards, naturally). As such I nipped in for a pint and a throw after an away climbing trip at Bloc (TCA 4 life). I immediately liked what I saw, several local cask beers and a relaxed atmosphere. It also has a nine pin skittles alley which I’m excited to have a go at.

The board is a Winmau Diamond Plus, in good nick. From the prominence of the veins on the white segments I’m guessing the board is single core, however, as far as I can tell the difference is largely cosmetic. The diamond wire construction is neat but will lead to more bounce outs than a bladed board, particularly when aiming for the outer bull where the wires enter the board. This is easily compensated for by my strategy of missing the centre of the board entirely when aiming for outer/bull.

The oche is very spacious, plently of room to adjust along when previous darts block the bed you are after. The line itself is a metal strip, not quite as good as a raised oche but the next best thing. The photo makes it look like the board is on the wonk, however, it is square when throwing. There is also plenty of space on the chalkboard, which looks like a telly from the photo. The fact that the chalkboard is in a landscape orientation has pros and cons; on the plus side even people as short as me can reach the top, avoiding the embarassment of having to draw the score board nowhere near the top. On the other hand, when playing 501 you’ll have to chalk very small or be hitting the twenty segment consistently.

There is a handy shelf next to the oche for pints, although it was slightly on a slope so the chalk rolled off. My mate Tim had an effective solution to this; rub one edge of the chalk on the board to create a flat surface and reduce rolling. This may be obvious, but I hadn’t thought of it before. All in all it’s a great spot for throwing darts, I’m already excited to find out who the other regulars are, maybe I’ll update this page when I’ve got a few sessions under my belt.