Back in 1994, Circus Tavern kicked off a memorable and iconic stint as the home of the pinnacle of darts: the PDC World Championships. With a capacity of 1,100, eagerly anticipated darts fans crowded the venue located in Purfleet, Essex, to watch some world class darts. Despite it departure for bigger locations, Circus Tavern would be called back again in 2022 for the World Seniors Darts Championships.
ADVERTISEMENT
It was designed for darters aged 50 or over. The event boasted talents of the highest caliber, featuring the likes of John Lowe, John Part, Kevin Painter, and 16-time World Champion Phil Taylor participating. Former UK Open and World Grand Prix champion Robert Thornton stormed to victory in the inaugural event, watched on by an enthusiastic crowd, with the sense of nostalgia in the air from a previous past in the sports decorated history.
Almost four years later, and the event has reached a surprising but premature closure. This breaking news was recently confirmed by Lowe, who described it as a 'blow for many'. But why had a popular tour with a decent following and support come to an abrupt end?
Phil Taylor regularly participated in senior competitions
Promising start
In February 2022, the World Senior Darts Championships drew first blood, with 24 players competing for a chance to take home the title and £30,000. In a thrilling tournament, Thornton came out on top in a dominant showing, dropping just three sets.
It was a hit with the fans, who had this rare opportunity to re-live their past and experience the iconic Circus Tavern atmosphere once more. Tickets sold in good numbers, with it also being streamed on BT Sport with strong numbers.
ADVERTISEMENT
This would just be the start, with more events starting to be scheduled on the darts calendar, which would form together to become the World Seniors Darts Tour (WSDT). The Seniors Masters and the Seniors Matchplay arose in the same year, with similar positive results. The Masters would be held at another iconic location, Lakeside, the previous home of the BDO World Darts Championship and now the WDF World Darts Championship. Acts like this brought in viewers and made the event much more appealing to an older generation. They also got to re-live the past of darts, with Taylor reaching the final of both events, but came unstuck against qualifier David Cameron at Lakeside and Thornton in the Matchplay.
In October of that year, it was announced that a fourth tournament would be added, the Champion of Champions, organised by Modus Darts and Snooker Legends. This was around the time where the Modus Super Series started, which is still successful to this day with a variety of events. Its maiden competition took place in Blackpool, with American Leonard Gates coming out on top.
Leonard Gates found a lot of success on the WDST
The WSDT had commenced with a bang, receiving a lofty amounts of viewers, large interest, and positive feedback. It had nostalgic names, iconic locations, and was easy to watch via streaming services. Four competitions a year showed the big step they had made in such a short time, but that would all come crashing down in 2025.
ADVERTISEMENT
The demise of the World Seniors
For over three years, the WSDT went smoothly. Thornton became a double Seniors World Champion, Gates and John Henderson would add titles to their arsenal, and Ross Montgomery would kick off 2025 with two convincing showing in the World Champs and the Champion of Champions. Unfortunately, the Scottish darter never had the chance to win the quadruple.
At the start of the year, there was no signs of anything wrong, with tickets being sold for upcoming tournaments after another successful Worlds, with a brand new tournament called the World Seniors Open also slotted in. It may not have looked like it at the time, but Montgomery's victory in the Champion of Champions (now held at the MODUS Live Lounge, Portsmouth) turned out to be the last seniors event held.
As 2025 progressed, the warning signs started cropping up. Promotion quietened down, the organisers were seldom at best, and tickets started to be retracted. Eventually, the five upcoming events in 2025 and 2026 were cancelled indefinitely. Their website was taken down, social media accounts have been renamed or deleted, and all tickets were refunded and removed from sale. It was a bitterly disappointing end to what looked like a promising and popular tour.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fans and players have been left in the dark about the reasons for the cancellations, but it does come with heavy consequences. Players would rely on these competitions for income and a chance to play the sport they loved. Fans would get to witness some previous legends of the game whilst returning to extremely popular locations such as Circus Tavern and Lakeside.
What happens next is anyone's guess. This may be a premature goodbye for senior darts, but it might not be goodbye forever.
Lucas MichaelDarts Journalist
Lucas Michael is a darts journalist and reporter based in Cambridge, UK, and has been part of the DartsNews team since 2025. He covers professional darts through reports, analysis, round-ups, and live coverage, with a focus on clear context and accurate reporting across the PDC calendar.
A key part of his work is liveblogging major tournaments throughout the year, providing real-time updates, match coverage, and contextual reporting across the professional circuit. He also reports regularly from events on site and has covered the PDC World Darts Championship from the venue, delivering first-hand insight throughout the tournament.
Within the newsroom, Lucas works closely with the editorial team and supports coverage alongside Chief Content Officer Samuel Gill and reporter Kieran Wood.
Lucas holds a BA (Hons) in Sports Journalism. In his work, he places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating content promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 10visitors 7
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Ultimately it is a bye for whoever draws Barney. It will be another stroppy and sulky performance once he goes behind. Barney was excellent but really must completely call it a day now.richieburnettrocks07-11-2026
- I'm disappointed he was not able to secure a spot at the Grand Slam. With Carl Sneyd taking care of Daryl Gurney, he would have had to beat Andy Boulton before facing the winner of Sneyd vs Mensur Suljović for a Grand Slam spot. Unfortunately, after beating Filip Bereza comfortably, he succumbed to Boulton, and the board would ultimately be won by the highly inconsistent Carl Sneyd. Since he could instead have been drawn against the likes of Cristo Reyes, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Stephen Bunting, I think once Gurney was out of the picture he would have been favourite to win his board, and it seems like a massive missed opportunity to put 5 grand on his ranking and seal another major TV appearance ahead of the Worlds. The highs and lows of following Raymond van Barneveld!Deduce635806-11-2026
- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026