A NICOSIA tavern owner yesterday hit back at rumours that her restaurant had been involved in settling a gambling debt in the occupied areas.
Irenia’s Tavern owner Niki Paraskevopoulou said: “I don’t know where this rumour started or why but they are completely unfounded.”
The 55-year-old, who runs one of the capital’s busiest restaurants along with a fleet of loyal staff, said people could bad mouth her all they wanted but what she would not accept was them bad mouthing Irenia’s.
“Irenia was my mother’s name and this was her and my father’s restaurant which they set up in 1937-1938. They can say what they want about me, but I run this business in her memory and honour her good name. She has been dead 16 years now and I will not let anyone tarnish her honour or name in any way,” she said.
The rumours, sparked by a newspaper article, named the restaurant as the establishment at the centre of even bigger gossip about a restaurateur who lost his premises to settle a gambling debt at a casino in the occupied north.
“I don’t know who made this up. Only someone filled with jealous would spread such lies. I know it didn’t start from any of my customers who are loyal and love this restaurant. I can’t even begin to think who started it,” she said.
The rumours said the restaurant had been handed over to Turkish Cypriots to run, that limousines from the north were seen parked outside the premises and that Turkish Cypriots would leave with wads of cash from the restaurant’s takings, she said.
“The things we’ve heard being said are just crazy. Only someone very jealous would talk that way. I can’t understand how some people can have so much hatred. I love people. I open my doors to them, as my mother did before me. I look after my customers and do whatever I can for them. I don’t believe the person who started these rumours even knows me and certainly isn’t a client,” she said.
Paraskevopoulou, who sits on the committee of the restaurateurs’ association, said the association had actually heard the gossip about the alleged restaurateur who’d lost his business gambling but that it had not heard which restaurant was involved.
“We only heard that it’s in the centre of Nicosia. But even now you can’t badmouth all tavernas in the centre of Nicosia. And what for anyway? It’s not right to badmouth your colleagues.”
She also expressed some doubt that the rumour was even true.
Thankfully the 52-year-old said the lie had not cost her any loss of business because people returned to her for the high quality, good food she served.
“They’ll kiss me on the cheek as they’re leaving and say my taverna is the best in town. Now why would I jeopordise that? Why blacken my mother’s name and the reputation this restaurant has both here and abroad?”
She admitted that she had been to the occupied areas and had also been to casinos to have a cup of coffee while friends gambled. She said she even had friends who owned casinos in the north.
“I’ve always had good relations with Turkish Cypriots, even before the checkpoints opened. What has that got to do with anything? The love me and do me no harm, it’s my own doing me harm.”
Paraskevopoulou said she returned to Cyprus from the UK to take over the family business in 1982 after her parents became too unwell to run it. Her son and daughter remained behind in London, where they still live, and she took to maintaining the reputation of one of the island’s most well known tavernas.
The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week serving traditional Cypriot cuisine and offering mezze for those wanting to try a little bit of everything. As well as her cooks, Paraskevopoulou is also involved in preparing dishes and if a good customer comes to her premises really late she thinks nothing of getting back in the kitchen to whip them up a meal.
She said: “I still can’t believe someone would try to destroy my name this way; Irenia’s name. I’m here for my mother because I loved her very much and would never destroy her name. She offered a lot to everyone from when she stood here and sold souvlakia for 25 cents. She helped the poor and anyone who came her way. Whoever tried to destroy her name should be ashamed of themselves.”
