Hatchet Harry's doughnuts

Source: Harry’s Handcrafted Doughnuts

Axe-throwing business Hatchet Harry’s has opened its second doughnut store, with a Newcastle outlet adding to the Darlington branch launched earlier in the year.

Owners Jack Beadle and Richard Bridge first turned their attentions to doughnuts during lockdown in 2021 when the pair were forced to temporarily close their axe-throwing operations due to Covid restrictions.

The doughnut side of the company’s business – known as Harry’s Handcrafted Doughnuts – began as an online delivery operation via social media but expanded with the opening of the store on Hatchet Harry’s Darlington site in January 2022.

The company has eight axe-throwing venues around the UK, with the latest, Brighton, having opened last month. Other locations include Glasgow, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Nottingham and Derby.

The company said it now plans to open further doughnut outlets across the UK, using part of existing Hatchet Harry’s premises where space allows. The owners added that the doughnut business sharing venues with some of the existing Hatchet Harry’s venues would ensure the units were utilised throughout the day, as axe-throwing activities tended to be concentrated in the late afternoon and evenings.

The Newcastle site was the first axe-throwing venue opened by the business in 2019. “Our fantastic customers in Newcastle gave us the support and the means to rapidly expand our axe-throwing locations across the UK,” Beadle said. “So it’s only fair that Newcastle’s Hatchet Harry’s gets to benefit from the arrival of our sister business Harry’s Handcrafted Doughnuts.

“Our stand-alone doughnut store in Darlington proved so popular that we are confident the Newcastle launch will also be a huge success,” Beadle added.

Harry’s Handcrafted Doughnuts in Newcastle is also expecting to serve coffee made with beans sourced from 200 Degrees Coffee soon, while doughnuts will be available for online ordering in the future, the company said.