Johnny Onions: Cardiff French onion seller retires

It might be time to shed a little tear as a familiar French face on the streets of Cardiff is saying au revoir.

French onion seller Patrick Mevel, 64, moved to the Welsh capital in 1979 when he was 21.

Patrick - known as one of the Johnny Onions - sold from a traditional bike all over Wales in markets, butchers, and the Hayes in the city centre.

After lifting more than 20,000 tonnes of onions over the past 43 years, he has decided to call it a day.

Patrick, from Roscoff in Brittany, never set out to become a French onion seller but as a student he asked himself: "What can I do for my country?"

He decided to qualify as an officer in the French army but it was not for him so he turned to academic studies and a degree in geography.

He arrived on these shores in the summer of 1979 after asking his grandfather to join him selling French onions in the UK.

French onion sellers - better known as Johnny Onions - originated in Roscoff in the early 20th Century. They sold the pink onions named after that area.

The Roscoff onion can be used as a vegetable, side dish or as a condiment, raw or cooked and are well-known for their colour.

Johnny Onions are well remembered on the streets of Cardiff and could be found pushing a bicycle covered in strings of onions, and wearing a beret.

Patrick reckons once you have a pink French onion, you will not want to try anything else.

Patrick's grandfather sold French onions from Roscoff with his brother when he was in his 20s before pursuing a career in the military.

He retired in the 1970s but then decided to go back to selling onions and decided at the end of the decade that he would help Patrick.

Selling onions is done between August and February and is very intense, involving long hours, starting early in the morning until 11pm.

"As soon as the onions were here they became the boss of the house," says Patrick.

"As long as there is an onion in the house you are stringing and selling them all day every day.

"But being away from my world and family in France was a sacrifice, so being over here for my job wasn't for leisure, it was for a living."

His house was not only his home, it also housed all the onions downstairs along with the strings, packing tables and scales.

Patrick would have five or six boys come over from France each year to help him and would put them up at his home and make sure they had a home-cooked meal every night.

"Some did 10 seasons with me, others did an hour and went straight back on the ferry!

"My grandfather used to always say when we got to customs we only had hard work, tiredness and dust to declare."

Patrick sold on the Hayes in Cardiff until 2009 but after business started to slow down, he started delivering to markets, butchers and going door-to-door to regular customers.

"Rain or shine - I remember being there on 18 December 1982 on a Saturday which was one of the coldest days in British history at -27C. The onions froze but we still had to sell them."

Patrick had customers all over Wales and has knocked on thousands of doors across Cardiff.

"It's more than a French onion seller. I'm a regular in their lives and you build a bond. I have seen some customers have babies, go to university and then have babies themselves and I will miss them."

Patrick has decided it is time to retire and move back to France to be with his family. Each bag of onions weighs 55lbs (25kg) and it has taken a toll on his body.

Patrick adds: "Now the page has to be turned, as simple as that. Nobody is there forever."