The UK's Competitive Socialising Hotspots

With more and more people conscious of their health, time, and money, going out for a boozy night in a club has drastically diminished. Gone is the time when a mere conversation is enough to stimulate our minds – we want memories, experiences, and something way out of the ordinary. 

This is where the future of ‘competitive socialising’ comes in, with leisure activities evolving in recent years from classic pub games to utilise modern technology and give punters maximum bang for their buck. With this in mind, we analysed search volume data to discover the demand for ‘competitive socialising’ products and venues across the UK. Read on to find out more…

Analysing UK Search Volume Data

We analysed search volume data for various competitive socialising related keywords – including for arcade, darts, foosball, mini golf, pinball, pool, shuffleboard, snooker, and table tennis. Three keyword variations were analysed for each game (one generic, one location-based, and one product-based), and the totals for each game were calculated before comparing them against each other to form an overall ranking order.

The overall UK findings revealed the following:

*Across all 3 keyword variations

Across the nine games analysed, there was a combined average monthly search volume of 732,000 – almost 9 million searches per year overall.

According to the data, pool, snooker, and darts saw the biggest search volumes in 2021, each with average monthly search volume of more than 150,000 – almost two million searches each per year overall. 

Making up the remainder of the top five, each with more than 80k searches per month on average, were mini golf (94,080) and arcade (83,800). Table tennis (43,200), shuffleboard (23,970), pinball (16,550), and foosball (9,820) were the least popular of the nine games analysed.

Analysing City-Level Search Volume Data

As well as analysing UK figures, city-level data were also analysed for the 20 UK cities with the largest populations. Looking at average monthly searches across all nine games, the findings revealed that Edinburgh, Coventry, London, Leicester, and Sunderland were the cities which were most likely to be searching for competitive socialising keywords. 

Ordered from most searches per capita, the findings revealed that:

*Across all 3 keyword variations

In Edinburgh, there is one search for a competitive socialising keyword for every 81 people, compared to one search for every 97 people in Coventry (taking second place). London (99), Leicester (101), Sheffield (108), Reading (114), Liverpool (126), Sunderland (128), Stoke-on-Trent (134), and Bournemouth (135) make up the remainder of the top 10. Conversely, Southampton (432), Manchester (324), and Cardiff (295) were the least likely to be searching for competitive socialising keywords.

Looking at top game(s) per city, the findings revealed the following:

*Across all 3 keyword variations

Pool, darts, and snooker were the top games overall. Pool was the top game for 11 of the cities analysed, including Belfast, Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Reading, and Southampton. 

Darts was the top game for 5 of the cities analysed, including Glasgow, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent, and Sunderland. Snooker was the top game for 4 of the cities analysed, including Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, and Sheffield.

Looking at top city per game, the findings revealed the following:

*Across all 3 keyword variations

Edinburgh took the top city spot for four of the nine games, including darts, foosball, mini golf, and pinball. London secured three top spots – arcade, shuffleboard, and table tennis – and both Coventry and Leicester topped the list for one game each (pool and snooker respectively).

Advice for Venues

To capitalise on the boom in ‘competitive socialising’, vendors should try to provide the entertainment and individuality that represent value for money to consumers. It’s a challenge that a range of suppliers and manufacturers are ready to meet with passion, expertise, and imagination.

The most popular types of competitive socialising in the UK have traditionally been closely linked to pubs and include pub quizzes, snooker, pool, and darts. That said, people are finding new ways to disrupt the traditional competitive socialising market, introducing other games such as table tennis, shuffleboard, and more! 

By making social media-friendly venues with modern competitive socialising at their core, businesses such as Flight Club, Swingers, London Shuffle Club, and Whistlepunks create models that appeal to younger drinkers and make games and activities the core of a night out, rather than a sideshow.

Games can now be made accessible to people of different ages and abilities by tweaking them with technological advances. Ultimately, this makes venues more appealing to a wider demographic, but also the enhanced games will add a new dimension to customers’ experiences.

Methodology:

Generic Keywords Analysed: “arcade”, “darts”, “foosball”, “mini golf”, “pinball”, “pool”, “shuffleboard”, “snooker”, “table tennis”

Location-based Keywords Analysed: “arcade near me”, “pub with darts”, “foosball near me”, “mini golf near me”, “pinball arcade near me”, “pool hall”, “shuffleboard near me”, “snooker hall near me”, “table tennis near me”

Product-based Keywords Analysed: “arcade machine”, “darts board”, “foosball table”, “mini golf set”, “pinball machine”, “pool table”, “shuffleboard table”, “snooker table”, “table tennis table”

The 20 Cities Analysed: Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland

Sources:

Search volume data

Google Keyword Planner

City-level population estimates

Statista - https://www.statista.com/statistics/294645/population-of-selected-cities-in-united-kingdom-uk/ 

UK population figures

Office for National Statistics - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates