| WORLD champion darts player Eric Bristow challenged local players to a game in Baughurst on Thursday (October 2), to mark the closure of a leisure centre bar.
The Crafty Cockney, as he is known, visited the Hurst Leisure Centre, Brimpton Lane, in commiseration over the closure of the bar where pool and darts teams regularly played league matches.
Mr Bristow won his first world championship in 1980, defeating fellow Londoner Bobby George and so began a decade's worth of domination, retaining his title in 1981 and winning it again in 1984, 1985 and 1986.
The champion darts player challenged ten plucky people in the crowd.
He said of his opponents: “It’s a bit nerve wracking for them, especially with their friends watching them.”
The decision to close the 11-year-old bar yesterday (Friday) was made by the Hurst governing body to develop the facility into a coffee and juice bar in line with current national strategy for schools.
Bar manager Phil Capel said that the decision had not taken into account the wider interests of the community and would affect four pool and three darts teams.
"The pool teams included an all girls team which has had to fold now they have no-where to play," said Mr Capel.
Josh Delaney aged 19 of Huntsmore Road, Tadley, said: “There is nowhere else in Tadley where you’ve got the facilities that we’ve got here.”
Baughurst resident Danny Crouch, aged 21 of Wolverton Road, said: “You can’t slate the juice bar yet because it has not started, so it’s 50/50.
“But it’s a shame that the bar is going. It’s the only thing that brings people up here.”
Mr Bristow said the game of darts was not suffering from the closure of pubs across the country but it was a shame that pubs were shutting.
“All the dart teams will move from one pub to another so there will still be as many darts players, they’ll just move to another pub." (source link...)
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