Gallery Social opens in Newburgh with bowling, darts and bar

Gallery Social opened at 88 North Plank Road in the Town of Newburgh with a first soft opening reserved for emergency services, EMS, firefighters and police, turning the debut into both a thank-you and a test run for owners Ruth Platt and Dave Pinkston. The new space adds stringpin bowling, electronic darts with sensor-based tracking, a kitchen and a bar to the couple’s North Plank Road footprint.

Platt and Pinkston also own Gallery Billiards at 154 North Plank Road, the long-running Newburgh pool hall that opened in 1990 and has been owned by the pair since October 2001. They had been considering a second location for years, but limited parking at Gallery Billiards made a separate site the more practical choice. Gallery Billiards’ hours are listed as noon to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Gallery Social is designed to broaden what the business can offer without losing the regulars who built the original room’s following. Pinkston said the menu will rotate because customers come back often enough that variety matters, while Platt said the darts system can be used by children because it works with soft or nontraditional objects instead of only sharp-pointed darts. The bar will serve beer, cocktails on tap, coffee and other drinks, giving the new venue a wider range of uses for casual outings, league nights and group gatherings.

The rollout has been deliberately gradual. After the June 6 soft opening, Platt and Pinkston planned more limited openings for friends, family and league regulars before opening fully to the public, a pace meant to smooth out any problems with the equipment or service. That measured approach fits a business with deep local roots: the Orange County Chamber describes Gallery Billiards as Newburgh’s exclusive billiard hall and the county’s oldest and most beloved billiard room, and the business says it has hosted leagues, tournaments and professional exhibitions. First responder Chris Phillips came away impressed, describing the space as a really nice environment and saying he would return. Its debut also adds to the steady small-business reinvestment along North Plank Road, where new hospitality and community spaces have continued to take shape in recent years.