‘The dream? Another room’: UK Open champion Gilding plans home upgrade

Andrew Gilding is planning to use the winnings from his surprise UK Open victory to help him upgrade from his one-bedroom council flat.

The 52-year-old, a journeyman on the PDC Tour, celebrated the landmark moment of his career when he stunned Michael Van Gerwen in Sunday’s final at Minehead Butlin’s, taking home a £110,000 prize.

Gilding has lived in the same Suffolk flat for 30 years, but wants to use the money to buy his own property.

“That’s been the plan, I have been slowly saving up some money, the dream is to have my own place,” he said. “I never really had any money in my life. Never. It depends how much money I can save up, but I have always dreamed of having a full-sized snooker table. But that would be a ‘winning the World Championship’ thing.

“I have got a tiny one-bedroomed council flat. I have lived there for 30 years. The dream would maybe be another room. On Saturday night, I was: ‘Wow, I’ve won 30 grand.’ I never thought I would win three times that. It’s a great bonus for my plans.”

Gilding, who claimed a first PDC Tour title, was a latecomer to the sport, having worked in an abattoir and a chicken factory, and only got into it after joining a pub team following a bout of depression in his early 30s.

“I went from literally being washed up and miserable to top of the world. What a turnaround. It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It was very briefly but I had a couple of factory jobs, in the early-mid 90s. I was unemployed for a while and I actually became quite reclusive in my early 30s.

“I had some mental health problems and I started to spend all my time indoors. I started getting out when I played guitar for a church band and from there I joined a local pub darts team.

“Joining the church band got me started