I was going through my collection of Darts World magazines and came across this....


It's from December 1975, it only ran for a few issues as far as I know but it made me wonder if there were any other regional magazines out there in the past?

That's a rare item you have there. You're right the Kent-centric SHANGHAI wasn't around for long but a bit longer than Mike Brown's THE SHROPSHIRE DART which lasted only three issues. Info about that mag can be found at www.shropshiredartshistory.co.uk courtesy of detailed research undertaken by Shropshire stalwart Eddie Austin.

DARTS NORTHERN NEWS was first published in 1978 and covered darts news from Merseyside, Yorkshire, Lancashire and later Cheshire. The last issue of the few I have is dated November 1980 so it ran for at least a couple of years.

There were also a number of national magazines that were introduced over the years including THE ARROW, DARTS INTERNATIONAL and (back in the 1940s) THE DART. Cheers!

Just spotted this reference to my Website www.shropshiredartshistory.co.uk and "The Shropshire Dart". As Dr Darts has rightly said, only three issues were printed ( March, April and May 1976), however in one further issue published in June the name was changed to "The Dart Magazine." After that I do not know what became of it. As yet they are not able to view online, but there are plans to include them on the website (hopefully) by the end of next week (20/9/13). Then they will be available to view on the homepage by clicking on the appropriate icon.

I seem to remember a tabloid style national darts paper that hit the shops in the late 70's or very early 80's but it only lasted a few editions. I don't remember the name of it though.

Hungry Coyote, the magazine you might be referring to (but it's a bit later than late 70s/early 80s) to was 'THE ARROW' billed in late 1988 as 'Britain's Newest and Brightest Darts Magazine' and produced under the purview of the NDAGB. It ran for eight issues sporadically from December 1988 to November 1989. The editor issued a note to subscribers' on 5th November 1989 stating 'It is with deep regret that oweing [sic] to conditions beyond out control it has been necessary to curtail publication of THE ARROW for the time being' also promising to return after 'the present 'hiccup' concerning ownership has been resolved'. The content was at times chaotic and some issues were published stapleless so the mag fell apart in your hands.
I never did get my outstanding subs back! THE ARROW had actually been launched as 'a New National Monthly' with one issue being published in January 1988, copies of which I guess are extremely rare.

In my archive (since my original post above) I now have one copy of 'MIDLANDS DARTS NEWS' (Issue 7, November 1984) plus one issue of 'ON THE OCHE', (Issue 53, September 1987) a low-budget, non-glossy, Leicester-based A5 monthly darts mag. It's editor was Pete Degnan who was shortly afterwards to become the editor of the ill-fated ARROW.