Black Country pub puts on big display to celebrate World Cup

The New Pheasant Pub in Wednesfield has used the roundabout opposite the pub on Wood End Road as a canvas for different displays over the last year, with a tribute to the Queen and an Easter Bunny among the displays.

Now, with the World Cup in Qatar set to begin, the pub has put a display of the 32 competing nation's flags going around the roundabout in the order of what group the teams are in, with a larger England flag flying in the middle.

Owner Wayne Parkes said the display had been put out on Wednesday and had already got around 20,000 views on social media since then, and said he enjoyed being creative on it.

He said: "I've been doing a lot of displays on that island over the last 12 months and found people were liking what we were doing, so I decided to do something big for the World Cup.

"To be honest, it's not my island to do this on, but people seem to like it and the council don't seem to mind, only asking me if I can move things so that they can cut the grass."

Mr Parkes said the displays had been well received by the community, with local groups putting up pictures on their social media pages and said it was part of the community ethos of the pub.

He said: "We've told it cheers people up and we like to do it for the community and the shops and the hairdressers like me doing it as it brings a lot of good attention to the area.

"We've had the local MP come down and talk about this and we like being able to bring eyes onto Wood End, as it's our own little community."

Ahead of the start of the tournament, Mr Parkes said the pub would be busy throughout and said he hoped the pub did well and England did well.

He said: "We know it'll be really busy and there'll be the usual daftness and madness, but we'll have the TVs on and people will come in to watch the game and enjoy a drink.

"We'll wait and see how England do and I hope they do well, getting out of the group at least and I'd like to see them get all the way to end, but you never know."

To find out more about the New Pheasant Pub, go to facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057217099442