Axe-throwing and mini-golf bars drive rise in UK hospitality venues

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Bars offering activities such as axe-throwing, mini-golf, darts and ping pong have driven the UK hospitality industry to its first quarterly increase in outlet numbers in two years, new research shows.

Some 99,207 hospitality venues — including restaurants, pubs, hotels and nightclubs — were registered in Britain in June, up 0.5 per cent from March, according to the Hospitality Market Monitor by consultancies CGA by NIQ and AlixPartners.

The rise marks the first in registered venues since mid-2022 and just the third since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, which forced many businesses in the hospitality industry to close.

But the June number remained down 1 per cent from a year ago and 14 per cent below pre-Covid levels, according to the research published on Monday.

The consultancies said the rise in overall venue numbers had been pushed by bars, which increased by 2.5 per cent to 4,459, and in particular “themed bars”, which soared by 28.9 per cent to 281 in June compared with the year before.

The latter category includes “competitive socialising” venues where guests play a game or a sport such as axe-throwing, table tennis or mini-golf in a space with music, food and drink.

Graeme Smith, managing director at AlixPartners, said consumers were “wanting to go out and have a shared experience with friends and colleagues” and that experiential leisure was “more inclusive [as] there is an appreciation that not everybody wants to drink”.

While consumers hit by the cost of living crisis had cut back regular spending to be able to afford special events such as birthday celebrations, “competitive socialising venues are very much around people getting together for an occasion,” Smith said. A shift away from late-night to daytime outings was another factor behind the rise in such venues.

In filings this year to Companies House, the UK corporate register, operators of such sites have reported strong financial performance and outlined expansion plans.

Red Engine, which runs the Flight Club chain of darts bars and Electric Shuffle shuffleboard brand, in June said revenues in 2023 were up 27 per cent on the year before to £68.5mn, with gross profit surging by 28 per cent to £42.2mn.

The company, which has 25 venues in the UK, the US and Australia, added that it would open eight sites in cities including Liverpool, New York and Sydney this year, together with its partners.

Meanwhile, Lane7, which operates bowling, mini-golf and darts bars, in June said it would open six new venues in the 12 months to October, including its first sites overseas.

Growth in the competitive socialising subsector came at the expense of late-night bars and night clubs, which fell by 5.7 per cent and 9.9 per cent compared with June 2023 to 1,321 and 787 respectively.

The number of “educational bars”, which are located in student halls, also declined by 7.1 per cent to 628. But cocktail bars and craft beer bars grew by 10.8 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively to 870 and 722 in the year to June.

Casual dining, which had “reached saturation point” before the pandemic and declined over the past four years, registered quarterly growth of 0.9 per cent in the year to June, according to the research. This was thanks to commuters and tourists returning to city centres, it found.