Castle Quarter hits bullseye with ArrowHeadz letting

Castle Quarter – Norwich’s leading social, leisure and lifestyle destination – has secured darts store and social hub ArrowHeadz for the brand’s first outlet.

ArrowHeadz has taken unit 27, located within the scheme’s Leisure Zone, on a new five-year lease. As well as selling all the equipment needed for the sport, it will feature three darts lanes for matches and practice, incorporating the latest automated scoring technology and the potential to hold remote games with players in other locations. The store will also serve as a social hub, giving dartists a place to meet, practice, receive coaching and watch screenings of major darts contests.

The launch of ArrowHeadz follows a surge in interest in the sport, a trend that has accelerated following the surging profile of 17 year-old Luke Littler since his run to the PDC World Darts Championship final in January. Estimates suggest the number of people playing darts has surged by 40 percent in recent years.

The latest arrival at Castle Quarter strengthens the destination’s ‘competitive socialising’ offer, and cements the scheme’s repositioning towards innovative social, leisure and lifestyle operators while retaining its traditional retail strength. The pivot has brought major new brands to the destination. Improved dining options have also been a focus, with the arrival of independent restaurants alongside the ‘market hall’ style street food hub Castle Social.

Castle Quarter saw visitor numbers surge 9 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, seven times the increase in Norwich as a whole (+1.2 percent) and more than twice the rates of the East of England region (+3.5 percent) and the UK (+3.1 percent). Following the destination’s repositioning towards leisure and social, footfall, dwell time and car park usage increased in every month in 2023 year-on-year, and at least 75 percent of occupiers saw higher trading figures compared to 2022.

Will Ashdown, Asset Manager at RivingtonHark, said: “Brands such as ArrowHeadz are creating new and exciting concepts, and it is fantastic to see it choose Castle Quarter as its launch location. We’ve focused on expanding the range of competitive socialising and leisure options at Castle Quarter, and ArrowHeadz is an excellent addition to the line-up at the scheme. Social, leisure and lifestyle operators are forging a new role of city centre destinations, and as the first such centre to make this repositioning, Castle Quarter is playing its part in showing just what is possible for the sector.”

Castle Quarter is a unique destination offering visitors a range of social, leisure and lifestyle experiences. Totalling 387,000 sq ft of space and incorporating one of the city centre’s main car parks, with 820 spaces, Castle Quarter offers unrivalled options for people to enjoy themselves.

Roche and Jamieson Mills are the retained agents on Castle Quarter.