ERIC BISTRO
Cafe king Gerwyn hungry to retain his title
GERWYN PRICE is the former hooker who likes three in a bed so much that he joined cafe society and opened a darts-themed diner.
Tonight the ‘Iceman’ begins his defence of the William Hill PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace against Peter Hudson or Ritchie Edhouse.
On his climb to No.1 in the world rankings, Price has served up more gourmet banquets than dogs’ dinners on the oche.
And when he beat Gary Anderson in the final last January, completing his remarkable conversion from a front-row rugby forward with Cross Keys to a darts world champion, it was just desserts.
Even if he loses his crown at Ally Pally, Gezzy would be a decent outside bet to win Masterchef – because the grub served in his Cafe 501 in Markham is so popular.
Price often practises on the dartboard in the kitchen at home while he knocks up a Sunday roast and his cafe sideline makes him one of the sport’s most charismatic figures – the new Eric Bistro. He said: “It is going really good – I bought the building for my niece, who was pregnant, for the flat above to do it out for her to live in.
“There was a hairdresser’s shop below and I just didn’t know what to do with it. I was going to make it into a newsagent then I was thinking about a baguette shop.
“Finally, I put in for some planning permission to see if they would give me a cafe with the parking. They turned round and said yeah, so I went into that.
“It’s not the biggest of places – there is no room for a dartboard. There was a seating area at the back where I could have probably put one but I’d have lost another six people to sit down – I’d rather get the money in than the dartboard.
“We serve home-made food – lasagne, corn beef pie, chips, peas and gravy, chicken curry, a full English breakfast, vegetarian breakfasts. Like a normal cafe. Baguettes, rolls, cakes, different things.
“My sister runs it and my wife works in there as well. We employ a full-time chef, two or three people from the local village part-time, which helps them as well.
“I have been in there helping out – I have to do my health and hygiene, otherwise I will get a slap on the wrist.
“I also have a property business, buying and selling homes, doing them up and renting them out. It keeps my mind occupied – you don’t want to be playing darts 100 per cent of the time.”
Price’s life has changed beyond recognition since he scraped a living as a selfemployed external wall insulation worker in Llanelli.
And the Iceman still believes he is the man to beat at Ally Pally – not three-times world champion Michael van Gerwen, who is the bookies’ second favourite behind 36-year-old Price.
He said: “I don’t care what Michael says – I am the world champ, I am world No.1 and I think people fear me more than they fear him.
“I don’t fear him like I did in the past, I think he fears me more than he did in the past, so things have changed.
“He might think he is the man to beat but so do I. You have to go up on stage and prove it. Unless you are playing well then nothing else really matters.”