2010 World Cup – One good reason to skip work!
Published: 24 June 2010
by JOSIE HINTON, CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS & DAN CARRIER
IT may have been 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon, but football fans across Camden were not prepared to let work come between them and the big England game.
Whether they skived off early or appealed to their bosses’ generosity, people of all ages packed into pubs and beer gardens to watch the team squeeze past Slovenia 1-0.
They included five-month-old Alfie Docherty-Breen, on his first outing to the Victory pub in Regent’s Park, which has a massive England flag covering the roof.
“He’s been watching all the matches at home on TV but we brought him out today to watch England,” said mum Sophie Docherty. “We live in Leighton Road in Kentish Town but we knew the Victory was a friendly pub where we could bring the baby.”
Plumber and electrician Matt Clark and John Flaxton were working near the Albany Road pub before the match kicked off, and the atmosphere proved too much to resist.
“Our boss doesn’t know we’re here,” said Mr Clark. “But he’s a football fan himself. I’m sure he has a pretty good idea that we’ll have found our way to one pub or another.”
Meanwhile, staff at Camden Town music company Key Production were lucky enough not to have to plead with their boss, as football-mad Karen Emanuel decided not only to give all her staff the afternoon off to watch the game – but hosted a barbecue for her employees too.
Staff at the company, which works in production for the music scene, downed tools and enjoyed a specially hired big screen while they munched through chargrilled bangers.
Karen, a Spurs season ticket holder, said: “The fact is the phones never ring anyway when the England games are on.”
In Hampstead fans young and old enjoyed the match together. Pensioner Tessa Taylor has been supporting England for 40 years, but missed the 1966 World Cup due to the birth of her son Nick.
Watching the game in The George in Haverstock Hill, she said: “If we win the World Cup I’m going to have a celebration Sunday lunch and I’ll certainly have a nice drink that night.”
Ten-year-old Kai Steinsson added: “The pub went wild at the end of the game.”