New management takes over at Sunderland city centre bar and wants to stamp it on the map
“A lot of people still don’t even realise we’re here - but we want to change that,” says the new management at a city centre pub.
Annemarie Griffiths has taken over as manager at Top Flight in Vine Place and she’s hoping to stamp the bar on the map.
“I think this bar has so much potential, which is why I took the job,” she said. “But a lot of people still don’t even realise we’re here. When I say Top Flight, I often have to tell them it’s opposite Ttonic before they realise where I mean.”
The new team has refreshed the bar, taking out the old booths to create three new dart boards, with the pub joining the amateur darts league and looking for new players to join.
The bar’s had many guises over the years including Rush, Bavaria and Club Upside Down, but more recently, as Top Flight, the site has become more of a sports bar and Annemarie is aiming to build on that offering while also making it more family-friendly.
“Under 18s can come in before 9pm with an adult on weekends and we want to welcome more families,” said Annemarie. “We have a lot of SAFC murals here and we want to build up the match day offering for people.
“We’ll also be keeping our prices really fair.”
Top Flight relaunches on Friday night, April 24, with DJ sets and happy hour drinks offers, with a £1 off pints, taking a pint of Madrí from £4.50 to £3.50.
The new dart boards take the total up to five at the bar, with other sports offerings including two pool tables, punch bag game and sports on the big screens.
The amateur darts league starts this Sunday, April 26 and will run on Sundays thereafter from 6.30pm. Anyone wanting to join can do so here: https://www.dartsatlas.com/tournaments/RNULPZwTTPHi/entries
A pool league also runs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the bar.
The upstairs of the bar still runs under the name Ps & Qs and is available for parties and function hire. As part of a drive to have more events at the site, it will host an all day terrace party on Saturday, May 23 for the Bank Holiday Weekend.
*Top Flight, Vine Place, is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4pm to late, Fridays from 4pm to 4am, Saturdays from 12pm to 4am and Sundays from 12pm to 12am.