News & Updates

Marston’s locals hit the bullseye at Cool Hand Cup Grand Final

Following a nationwide darts tournament fronted by World No. 1 ‘Cool Hand Luke’ Humphries, which saw locals from 700 Marston’s pubs step up to the oche to compete in a timed ‘around the clock’ challenge, the nation’s 11 fastest players came together last week to battle it out at the Cool Hand Cup Grand Final.

Hosted at Marston’s The White Hart pub in Ashby, two finalists from the North East, North West, West Midlands, East, South and one from Wales competed in a series of quarter final and play-off matches to determine who took home the cup.

After a nail-biting final, Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott from Darlington was crowned the overall winner, narrowly beating Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson from Belper by less than two seconds, with a time of 1:40.55.

As the night’s big winner, Nile took home the grand prize of £5,000 in cash, £180 Marston’s Love My Local gift card, a set of Luke Humphries Red Dragon darts and, of course, the Cool Hand Cup trophy. He also had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play Luke Humphries, the 2024 World Matchplay Champion and reigning Players Championship Final Champion, in the best of five legs in traditional 501 darts in the final game of the night.

Neil Campbell, Chief Operating Officer at Marston’s, said:

“We’ve loved watching punters up and down the country get involved in the Cool Hand Cup and it was a pleasure to host the 11 finalists in Ashby for the Grand Final. The atmosphere was fantastic, with a very exciting final match to finish off proceedings. On behalf of Marston’s, I’d like to offer huge congratulations to all our finalists and of course to Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott.”

Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott, winner of the Cool Hand Cup, said:

“Winning the Cool Hand Cup feels absolutely spectacular. The competition was surreal and seeing Luke Humphries, the World No. 1, in person was an amazing feeling.

“All of the players have a lot of talent and showed great action, precision and accuracy. We’re the best 11 players out of thousands across the UK, so any one of us could have won it and we all equally deserved to. The competition is a huge night for pub darts and hopefully, it encourages more people to play at their local.”

None of the finalists went home empty-handed as 2nd place Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson received a £150 Marston’s gift card, 3rd place James ‘Jambo’ Walton from Hull received a £100 Marston’s gift card, and all finalists received a set of Luke Humphries Red Dragon darts.