Flight Club's Manchester expansion approved ahead of launch next month

Darts bar Flight Club will expand into Manchester next month after the company received planning permission and listed building consent for their new site on King Street.

The site, which will include Flight Club's feature bar and 14 oches, will be one of the largest darts venues in the UK when it opens in October. A private function room will also be built into the premises.

The concept uses technology to advance the traditional game, including dart tracking, instant scoring and a slick user interface. So far more than half a million players have thrown roughly 41 million darts on their sites.

Jonathan Phillips, a partner at Bidwells, the company which secured the approval, said: "Timing was critical to meet the ambitious but exciting timetable for this brand new leisure operation.

He added: "We're pleased to have hit the bullseye."

Flight club currently operates in London and Chicago, with further sites planned in the future including a London flagship at Victoria Nova due to open later in the year.

In June the company saw a 62% spike in annual turnover to £7.4m following the launch of its second site in Bloomsbury the previous year, but reported a pre-tax loss of £161,032 for the same period.

While the opening helped to drive growth in turnover for the year ended 31 December 2017, the £507,890 pre-tax profit of the previous year took a 131% negative swing after administrative expenses effectively doubled from £2.07m to £4.14m.

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