Mary, the club manageress of the Lakeside Country Club, has arguably the toughest job during the nine days of the tournament.

Imagine a club, such as the Lakeside, with a hefty bill for alcohol and food, and double it - that is the what the club has to do to cater for the hundreds of extra customers who come to watch darts premier spectacle.

"The breweries love me they do," said the amiable Mary.

"We have to use plastic glasses in the club when the tournament begins. People get excited and we lose a lot of glasses.

"And they drink so much. You should have seen them last year. I fear what's going to happen this time round."

Mary's begins her work weeks before the start of the event - a task which she believes is enough to give anyone a headache.

"My job starts months in advance. It all begins to be set up once the New Year is over.

Well educated tourists

"We have to get all the rooms decorated in the way the sponsors would like, and that means decking the place out in a lot of red instead of our usual blue.

Mary has a hardcore group of five workers who are employed on a full-time basis along with the additional staff needed for the tournament extravaganza.

The extra people are brought in to help accommodate the influx of tourists from around the world who come to watch the stars of darts in action.

Mary has no doubt who her favourite supporters are.

"I love the Dutch they are ever so nice and they all wearing their bright orange," she added.

"We don't have any trouble from them or any other tourists because they're all well educated. They are here to support the game, its not like other sports.

"I tell you what there's no better atmosphere than what we have here.