The majority of the time when I see my friends from college, we have our pre-schoolers in tow. So when Whistle Punks got in touch with me to feature as an alternative date for my Valentine’s gift guide, I thought it would also make a fab alternative day out for my friends and I and an excuse to go out without the little ones for once. I have always know there are plenty of things to do in Manchester but I didn’t realise axe throwing was one of them!
At the moment Whistle Punks have axe throwing in London, Birmingham and Manchester with other venues opening in the future.
We went to the one in Manchester which is located in The Great Northern Warehouse. The great thing about axe throwing is that you don’t have to be sporty to do it and it is suitable for the majority of fitness levels as it is a low intensity sport. One of my friends was 7 months pregnant when we went and someone in another group that was there had a broken leg and was throwing from her wheelchair.
The instructors started with a safety briefing and then moved on to the throwing techniques. We were put into groups and once we all had a couple of tries, we started the tournament.
You get one point for an outer ring, three for the inner ring, five for a bullseye and, if you’re feeling lucky you can aim for the tiny seven-point corner spots. The tournament can be as competitive or non competitive as you want it. The environment is very relaxed and there is music playing throughout. There are 12 people in each lane so if you do want it to just be your party in it and there are less than 12, you will need to buy 12 tickets. There was 4 of us so we were put with 8 others from another group. We would have preferred smaller groups, maybe 8 in a group to allow more throwing time. The whole session lasts approximately 1.5 hours, I was not a natural axe thrower, I got a bullseye once but other than that couldn’t get it to stay in the board haha. We really enjoyed ourselves though, it was a great atmosphere, the instructors were friendly and it was a fab change from coffee and cake while the little ones play x