The Clyde has been my regular for a year or so, despite living in the area for a few years. It is a proper old school boozer. The clientele is a mix of locals and students, there are always several excellent cask ales being served (typically Landlord, Butty Bach and Butcombe) and the atmosphere is typically lively and friendly. Most importantly, it has two dartboards and a pool of regular players making it easy to get a game if you turn up most nights of the week. I also felt privileged to be added to the WhatsApp group of regular players, where people will often post to try and get a game going of a week night.

The main board is Goat Everscore, which is the second board I’ve seen used there in the ~ year I’ve been going. It’s a high quality board which gets regularly rotated. It has a bladed spider, maximising the size of the beds and minimising bounce outs. I don’t have a photo of the secondary board, but it’s also of a high standard. When the main board starts to show its age it gets swapped to the secondar spot. It perhaps has slightly more worn/hard black treble segments and bull, but it is still perfectly playable if the main board is occupied.

The oche does leave a little to be desired. It’s at a slight angle, however, this matches the angle of the wall, although it’s hard to tell if the board is mounted at the same angle as the wall or angled to compensate. A small hole has been worn into the floor at the oche, showing its consistent use. This has been gaffer taped over, leaving a slightly confusing muddle of tape lines. Also, the oche is on the main thoroughfare to the garden. For the most part this isn’t an issue, there is space to nip through behind while someone is throwing. However, as it gets later into the evening and more drink is imbibed, people tend to be less spatially aware which has led to a few close ones. It can also be a bit frustrating to be mid throw and have someone wander through behind you.

Both boards have large chalkboards for scoring, leaving room to have a scorer while two people throw. I particularly like the ritual of chalking; scoring well and quickly doing the maths for your new total is very satisfying. I have also picked up a number of chalking affectations from playing in the Clyde. For instance, in three digit scores with zeros the zeros are normally written as dashes; 103 becomes 1-3. A clean ton is 1—. A score of 50 remaining is x, 40 remaining, known as tops, is just T. I’m sure variations of these exist in pubs up and down the country.

The Clyde is a tremendous pub in general, but particularly for darts. The regular players are incredibly friendly. I’ve had plenty of great games against good natured strangers over the last year, as well as having a throw in the Christmas tournament, which ended with an incredibly high standard of darts in the final. Soon it will no longer be my local, but I will definitely be nipping in for a throw when I get the chance.