Cask ‘n Flagon: A Sports Bar on Steroids

The restaurant’s latest Massachusetts location includes over 100 TVs and customer-controlled keypads at every booth.>

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There’s nothing like a good sports bar. It’s a place where sports fans can cheer and commiserate with beer and munchies, all without worrying about the weather or the facepaint.

However, the newly opened Cask ‘n Flagon is like a sports bar on steriods – and there’s no need to apologize for that. That’s because this Marshfield, Mass. bar and restaurant isn’t just a sportfan’s dream. It’s a dining experience.

The name may sound familiar to Boston visitors, since the original Cask ‘n Flagon has become a city staple, located just a baseball’s throw from Fenway Park. Owners/brothers Bruce and Dana Van Fleet wanted to bring a bit of that city excitement out to the suburbs.

“It’s in an area where there’s really nothing like it,” says Bruce Van Fleet, co-owner. “We thought it might be a good opportunity to come in and provide something that’s not real common.”

Saying this place isn’t common is a bit of an understatement. This certainly isn’t your typical sports bar, where people come to yell at the TVs and devour discounted chicken wings. The new Cask ‘n Flagon does have its share of pub grub, but has tons of other delicious fare, such as fish tacos, pasta dishes, jambalaya, and Malaysian Style Ribs.

Cask
The Cask ‘n Flagon brought the excitement of its Fenway Park-area bar and restaurant to the suburbs. (Click here to view photos)

Chances are, though, the customers aren’t just coming in for the food. Like its sister location in Boston, this is a place where sports fans can enjoy the game – any game, in fact. That’s because the restaurant has a grand total of 132 televisions packed into a 14,000-square-foot space.

Located both inside and out, that awesome collection of AV equipment includes everything from 43-inch Samsung, 50-inch Panasonic and 80-inch Sharp TVs around the bar and restaurant area to SunBrite models outside to the matrix of 20 tiny TVs located behind the hostess station.

“It’s a little over the top,” says Van Fleet. “It’s not the type of place where they throw a few TVs behind the bar and say it’s a sports bar. Anywhere you sit, you can watch four, five or even six different games at one time. We’ve got a monstrous AV system. It’s the full experience.”

Although the sheer number of TVs may be reminiscent of Las Vegas sportsbook, there’s a method to the AV madness here.

“You get these sports bars that have a density of televisions that’s not particularly attractive. In many cases, they might put a group of sets that are linear and running across the top of the bar,” says H. Bruce Hagopian, president of The Hago Group, an installation firm based out of Hyde Park, Mass. “I’m not fond of that.”

Instead, Hagopian wanted to have the number of TVs project the sports-bar feel, but have it be aesthetically pleasing.

“We didn’t want to turn it into just another place with a lot of TVs,” he says.

Hagopian says that the layout for the AV has actually become a signature component for the Cask ‘n Flagon.

“They take televisions and they put them in shapes, in triangles and this sort of thing and integrate lighting,” he says. “It becomes like a piece.”

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