THE feathers are flying over a group of darts players who have been thrown out of their local pub two games into the season.

The Abbey Mead's A and B teams have been told that they will no longer be able to play their home league games at the pub once it reopens following a refurbishment next week.

Keith Wright, captain of the A team, who play in the Wiltshire Darts C League, says the brewery do not care about local people.

But the owners of the Abbey Mead, Marston's Inns and Taverns, say they are spending more than £100,000 on the venue to make it more family-friendly.

Mr Wright, of Melksham Close, Penhill, said: "The brewery just don't care.

"We bring a lot of money to that pub on a Friday night and it's wrong to throw us out.

"Where the dartboard is there's a fire exit so they can't put a table there, so what are they going to replace it with? A flower pot?"

The B side are scheduled to pick up a trophy tonight after winning the league last season, which saw them promoted to the Wiltshire Darts E League.

Mr Wright said: "We have two teams so there's always going to be a team at home so they have 16 people plus their partners and there's a group of people who come in just to watch the darts."

The Abbey Mead pub paid £70 to enter the teams into the league and bought them a new dartboard and two sets of darts for the beginning of the season earlier this month.

But now the teams have been told there is no place for darts in the new look pub.

Keith said: "Everyone is really annoyed.

"It's not just the darts, it's everyone drinking together.

"We were there last night and if we weren't there the pub would have been empty so they're hurting themselves. It's just stupid."

This year's Community Champion for sport, 22-year-old Allan Minns, also plays for the B team.

Allan, who has set his sights on swimming in the 2008 Paralympic Games, won the community award for helping disabled youngsters learn to swim at the Milton Road swimming baths.

Allan, of Moredon, who lost his arm in an accident outside his home in Manor Crescent in 1990, said: "I was shocked when I found out.

"I've only been playing in the team for two weeks, but darts is really popular in the pub and there are always loads of people cheering you on when you play.

"The pub is packed so it's strange they decided to get rid of the dartboard. I'll keep playing darts, but the team might have to go to somewhere like the Tawny Owl."

A spokeswoman for the Midlands-based brewery did not explain why the dartboard couldn't be replaced.

She said: "The Abbey Mead pub is having a refurbishment to make the venue more family-focused.

"Marston's Inns and Taverns will be investing in excess of £100,000 in the pub.

"We are recruiting locally to expand the workforce to enable our service to be even more efficient for our customers.

"A children's play area was installed last month as we want to encourage more families to dine with us."