Iceland has joined Aldi and Lidl in their pledges to close early on Sunday if England reach the World Cup final.
It was revealed yesterday that both the German discounters promised their staff they’d have the chance to watch England in the World Cup final should they beat Croatia in tonight’s game, closing their stores an hour before kick off.
Now frozen food retailer Iceland has one-upped its rivals, promising staff a 2pm close, two hours before the game is due to start and three hours before it would usually close.
This will extend to stores across the UK, and its employees will reportedly still get paid for the hours they have off.
“We have huge confidence in the ability of the England team to reach and win the World Cup final – but we did not want to tempt fate, so we were planning to make this announcement on Wednesday once the semi-final result was known,” Iceland’s operations director said.
“However, the Germans have already got their towels on the sun-loungers with yesterday’s announcements from two of our rivals, so it seems right to let our colleagues and customers know our plans now.
“We all have our fingers crossed for an England win tomorrow, and to football coming home at the weekend.”
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