Greene King Gives Pub Customers Even More Reasons to Visit Thanks to Investment and Innovation in Traditional Pub Games

Greene King, the country’s leading pub company and brewer, is meeting demand for competitive socialising with traditional and next generation stay-to-play games which aren’t just entertaining customers but driving footfall and boosting sales.

The original competitive socialising game, pool, continues to lead the way, with darts and shuffleboard playing their part in this ever-increasing pub revenue stream.

With changing customer behaviour, Greene King is investing in the roll out of traditional and digital in-pub games as people are looking for more than just food and drink when they go out. Today’s competitive socialising trend is connecting customers across all demographics with a new generation of the traditional games including digital darts, digital pool table management and engagement, and electronic shuffle.

There are over 600 pool tables across Greene King’s 1,600 managed pubs. Tables are dual payment enabled (cash and card) and income delivers over £2 million annually, excluding any drinks and food sales associated with gameplay.

Darts and shuffleboard, though modest compared to pool, are steadily expanding across the pub estate, contributing over £200k in sales in 2025. Of the 560 plus dart boards, over 50 are digital with plans in the pipeline to double the number of digital darts lanes. More than 13.7 million darts were thrown into Greene King’s dart boards in 2025.

Greene King has 37 shuffleboards currently and last autumn, Greene King installed the first electronic shuffleboard as it continues to evolve its leisure experiences. The SHUFL Tech table at The Thieves Kitchen in Worthing has the first camera-tech powered auto-scoring board, replacing the analogue version marking a big step forward in tech-led gameplay.

Clair Preston-Beer, Greene King’s chief digital and commercial officer, said: “The appeal of competitive socialising is undeniable. Our customer insights show it’s connecting across all demographics. It’s no longer niche, it’s becoming mainstream.

“Over the past years, we’ve seen something exciting take shape across our pubs; stay-to-play is growing and it’s proving to be more than just a passing trend. People want to meet up in person and play a game in the pub, and it’s easy for customers to book to play these games through our app which helps drive loyalty with in-app offers and rewards. Despite seasonal swings, the summer keeping people outdoors or international football tournaments taking attention away, our stay-to-play products are showing real resilience and encourage repeat visits. New names in the darts world have rejuvenated the sport and there is a huge appetite for people to play in our pubs. The introduction of digital darts and the SHUFL Tech table, for example, are not just a product swap, they are a step forward in digitising and gamifying our leisure offer, while improving customer experience, footfall and spend.”

Notes to editors

Greene King is the country’s leading pub company and brewer trading c2,500 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland.

At Greene King we are passionate about delivering our purpose to ‘pour happiness into lives’. That’s for our customers, our team, our pub partners, our suppliers and the communities in which we live, operate and serve. Founded in 1799 with offices in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and Burton on Trent in Staffordshire we employ around 38,000 people across the group and operate three divisions including Managed Pubs, Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands.

• Managed Pubs: Our Managed Pubs division brings together our best-known pub and restaurant brands nationwide, including Greene King pubs, Hungry Horse, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Flaming Grill. We offer great service, quality and value for a wide range of eating and drinking occasions. Ventures includes Hickory’s, Premium (Crafted Pubs & Metropolitan Pub Company) and Hotels, which operate independently of Greene King’s managed pub brands.

• Pub Partners: Pub Partners runs our tenanted and leased pubs business and Hive and Nest franchise pubs. These options combine entrepreneurial independence with practical support, enabling partners to run successful local businesses within a market‑leading estate. We have c.1,000 leased, tenanted and franchise pubs.

• Brewing & Brands covers the brewing sides of the business. Quality ales are brewed at the Westgate brewery in Bury St Edmunds and the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar. Our industry-leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Abbot Ale, Ice Breaker and Belhaven Best and our premium beers, Level Head and Hazy Day, brewed for the modern-day drinker.

For further information please contact Greene King Press Office via pressoffice@greeneking.co.uk.

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