This restaurant is banning all mention of the World Cup for the next month

MILLIONS of people will tune in to watch the World Cup '“ with thousands cramming into pubs across the area for England matches.
George Purnell at Koop+Kraft in CowplainGeorge Purnell at Koop+Kraft in Cowplain
George Purnell at Koop+Kraft in Cowplain

But a restaurant in Cowplain has banned the entire competition from the venue – with an ‘anti-football’ promotion in its place.

Koop+Kraft owner George Purnell said he is going to ban football from the venue to give people a place of solitude.

He said: ‘We are making our restaurant a place to escape.

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‘Literally every venue around here is showing the football. Our idea has gone down really well so far.’

As part of the London Road venue’s promotion, it will also offer two cocktails for £10 and a cheap burger and drink deal and other promotions for people eating when England are playing.

George said: ‘People who don’t like football want a place of solitude, somewhere to retreat and escape from the places where there will be big televisions and people shouting and screaming. There’s a lot of people who just want to see business as usual.

‘When there’s a big event like this happening, if you don’t like it then you’re pretty stuck. That’s why we are doing this.’ Koop+Kraft was set up by George, from Havant, and Portsmouth entrepreneur Kaz Miah, after George saw a rise in popularity of gourmet fast food restaurants.

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George worked for Kaz’s company Red Lounge – which set up Kassia in Southsea as well as several other restaurants – for six years as its brand development manager before he decided to branch out and take on a business.

The 25-year-old dad-of-two took over the premises, which used to be the Red Lounge restaurant, with Kaz as a business partner, earlier this year and says that he hasn’t looked back.

He said: ‘It’s been great so far. Everything we do is built around quality and it’s something that you can’t get anywhere else. It’s good food and good drinks.

‘We are in the heart of Cowplain so it was important to give the community something to be proud of and somewhere that they would want to come out to.’