Chris Maclean: Prince scores a bullseye

So Prince Charles has thrown his weight behind the Save Our Darts campaign. Brilliant. It seems that even Prince Charles is questioning the relentless march of the gastropubs. There is a suggestion that you are more likely to find a leather sofa in a pub than a dartboard.

Many years ago I remember visiting the Smiths Arms in Dorset. It is regarded by many as Britain's smallest pub. It was tiny and, at the time, was run by a very genial ex-jockey who had a fantastic little business there. The place was minute and yet still managed to retain the dartboard. If anyone wanted to play darts they would have to remove half the furniture. But the landlord knew the significance of the board. He knew he ran a pub.

For me, if a pub has no dartboard it has no heart.

I want to see four things in a traditional pub. I want a dartboard, an open fire, a piano and a bar billiards table.

The dartboard has been championed by Prince Charles. I can add little else.

The open fire is pretty much self explanatory. I have fond memories of working in a pub with an enormous fireplace in front of which tired walkers would often doze with their pints. It is the smell and the light which I love. Wood fires, coal fires, peat fires. Their smell can be wonderful and evocative. I can think of pubs near Dublin and imagine that peat smoke and believe I am there.

The piano is almost gone from pubs now. Sentimental Londoners might romanticise about the role of the piano and I have rarely heard them played in pubs but they conjure up, in me, wonderful visions of parties and fun.

The bar billiard tables have also largely gone. Given way to pool tables I guess. But a more gentle and genial game you'd be pushed to find.

I have no open fire here. No piano.

I have a dartboard and two darts teams. And I have ordered the bar billiards table.

But I miss the fire and I cannot play the piano. So I'll make do with what I've got but always in deference to those pubs that can provide all four.

And if your pub has all four and has decent beer please let me know!