Deeside based Iceland says it will close all UK stores early on Sunday if England reach the World Cup final

Iceland will close all its 900-plus Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores in the UK at 2pm on Sunday 15 July if England are playing in the World Cup final that afternoon.

All staff will be paid in full for their scheduled hours on that day if the early closures go ahead the company has said.

Iceland Operations Director Ewan McMahon said:

“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.

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 also feel that it is right to extend early closing to all our UK stores so that our colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can enjoy the match, too.

“We all have our fingers crossed for an England win tomorrow, and to football coming home at the weekend.”

Aldi and Lidl have both said they close early on Sunday if England make it to the World Cup Final