Archived News - World Cup
No football at the pub
If soccer's not your scene, the World Cup's your worst nightmare, and all you want is a quiet drink in a nice country pub with no endless inquests into Wayne's metatarsal or the relative merits of 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 - Eaton Bray's the place for you.
Licensee David Sparrow has declared The White Horse a World Cup Free Zone! There will be no huge screen showing all the action, not even a small screen - and furthermore, he has banned all discussion of The Beautiful Game for the duration of the World Cup.
Anyone caught infringing the rules will be handed a red card in the form of a polite suggestion that they might like to make a donation to Keech Cottage, the pub's favourite charity.
Mr Sparrow said: "This is a lovely old pub with low ceilings and beams and a restaurant, and big screens showing football just doesn't fit in at all. We've had signs up informing our customers and there seems to be general approval that this is a very good idea!"
Source: Herald & Post, 8 June 2006