It’s striking just how many nights out recently have gone above and beyond the classic ‘drinks then dinner’ formula to something more structured, more activity based, more, may we say, fun? As you’d expect, as The List’s Eat & Drink team, we’re never going to accept that good food and good company aren’t a sufficient source of pleasure in their own right. But there’s undoubtedly been a shift in expectation, especially around group nights out. Crazy golf, ten-pin bowling and darts have all been rediscovered and updated in slick city centre operations across the country. What’s brought all this about?

‘Drinking culture has changed,’ suggests Paul Stopper, manager of Glasgow’s Flight Club, which opened in August. ‘The focus used to be on drinking, but for a lot of people now the experience is more important. One of my favourite things to do is watch first-time customers' faces as they walk in and see the place.’ Flight Club is a well-oiled, UK-wide operation (there’s a branch in Edinburgh too) which aims to drag darts out of the smoke-stained corners and into the 2020s. In Glasgow, there are quirky nooks and crannies behind big, beautiful spaces with carnival-esque décor. ‘Dartsometers’ keep tabs on how many arrows have been thrown in total, as well as in individual venues (Glasgow hit 3 million in mid-January). A fully fledged and handsome cocktail bar sits right in the middle: it manages to be both a focal point, yet appear incidental.

It’s not just the arrows that have had a makeover. When you think of the bowling alleys of the (recent) past, the bar often felt like a sorry add-on. Now there are places like Bowlarama (immensely popular, especially with the city’s late-night hospitality workers) or Vega (with panoramic views on Yotel’s seventh floor), which thoughtfully combine bar and lane. Vega’s manager Neil Taylor puts it succinctly: ‘If people come to us as a bar, the bowling gives them something extra. If they come to us for bowling, our bar and restaurant give them something extra’. 

Taylor also alludes to the city centre experience. ‘We’re right on the edge of the financial district and a lot of the offices near us still sit empty or half empty. Footfall isn’t what it was, so you’ve got to give people more of a reason to actually come into these areas.’ 

To give that a more positive post C-word spin: have recent events increased our desire to connect and go out in larger numbers, and has this fed into an upsurge in activity-based venues? ‘I think it’s exactly that,’ says Stopper. ‘People want activities that bring them together, where you can really focus on the competition, or just dip in and out. Either way it’s just about big groups having fun.’ 

‘Folk also have less money to spend on going out these days,’ adds Taylor. ‘This is a more surefire way of a successful night out, with more bang for your buck.’ It looks like the games are definitely afoot, at least for the foreseeable future. 

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