The Lakeside Leisure Complex is a hotel, conferencing, entertainment and associated leisure complex in

Frimley Green Frimley Green is a large village and ward of in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. It is south of the town of Frimley. Lakeside Country Club was the national venue for the BDO int ...

in west Surrey. It hosted in January the open/men's and women's

BDO World Darts Championship The WDF World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the World Darts Federation. It would previously organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO), who held it 43 times from 1978 to 2020. The champion ...

from 1986 to 2019.

History

The complex was established in 1972, when Bob Potter (born 1928) bought Wharfenden House and the surrounding grounds and lake. He soon doubled the hall to 1,000 seats principally for hosting comedians and musicians, including North American and internationally acclaimed acts. The Lakeside had a fire later that decade and re-opened. During the 25th year of hosting the World Darts Championship, in 2010 the lake had largely iced over by 7 January. That day the body of a man, a hotel guest for the competition week, was found. Landowner-managers, Bob Potter Leisure Limited, were fined £85,000 for health and safety violations.

Events

The Lakeside became the venue of the World Darts Championship in 1986, The Club sponsored the event from 2004 to 2019. It is set to host the new WDF World Darts Championship from 2022. The venue has hosted acts such as Tommy Cooper, Morecambe and Wise, Sammy Davis Jr,

Frankie Vaughan Frankie Vaughan (born Frank Fruim Abelson; 3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999) was an English singer and actor who recorded more than 80 easy listening and traditional pop singles in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after his ...

and

Bob Monkhouse Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including ''The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'. Ear ...

. The 'Small Business Bureau Conference', held in 1987, was claimed by the organisers to be the largest business conference in Europe.

Facilities

;Grand venue The largest venue is the Main Cabaret Suite which has a capacity of 1,170 with conference and banqueting facilities. ;Others *the Canal Suite (capacity 350) *the State Suite (capacity 100) *Bob's Bar *the Sharman Suite *the Wine Bar It is a mixed members' club, hotel and selection of restaurants with snooker, pool, darts, ten-pin bowling, squash, bars, an events nightclub and well-equipped gym. Near the village, boats can be hired for day trips along the

Basingstoke Canal The Basingstoke Canal is an English canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Greywell, North Warnborough, Odiham, ...

. The borough and adjoining

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading ...

area has a number of golf courses.

Heyday as a club

Darts commentator and personality

Sid Waddell Sid Waddell (10 August 1940 – 11 August 2012) was an English sports commentator and television personality. He was nicknamed the 'Voice of Darts' due to his fame as a darts commentator, and worked for Granada, Yorkshire, BBC and Sky Sports. D ...

looked back on the early darts era when Lakeside was "arguably the best club in Britain":

Tom Jones, Jim Davidson and other stars packed the joint, while Margaret Thatcher herself said it was one of her favourite places for Tory jollies."

Potter claims that he and his facilities inspired Peter Kay's comedic business saga '' Phoenix Nights'', whose character is named Brian Potter.

References

External links

* {{Hydrology of Surrey Tourist attractions in Surrey Hotels in Surrey Sports venues in Surrey Frimley Green Darts venues Event venues established in 1972 1972 establishments in England Lakes of Surrey