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Businesses near Elland Road stadium rejoice as fans
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Businesses near Elland Road stadium rejoice as fans return following Premier League hiatus during World Cup
The Premier League season paused for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, meaning businesses near Leeds United’s home were deprived of the matchday trade they benefit from. Action returned to Elland Road with friendly matches held just before Christmas, by which time there had been no matchdays for just under six weeks.To get more news about elland road review, you can visit wikifx.com official website.
A visit to Graveley’s Fish & Chips is a matchday tradition for many Leeds fans and the shop has developed a strong relationship with supporters. Owner Ina Thompson was glad to see fans back and flocking to her popular shop.She told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “It is frustrating obviously [to lose matchday trade], and it is not nice to not see the nice faces of Leeds fans. It’s not nice because the buzz on a matchday is amazing and everyone knows about the atmosphere which we can hear from outside the stadium. You cannot change it, you cannot fault that it is something special that only belongs to Leeds."
However, when Leeds welcomed French side AS Monaco to LS11 on December 21, the queue outside Graveley’s resembled the ones seen ahead of Premier League games.She said: "We had a friendly game [against AS Monaco] and the queue was at our normal size. We’ve got a new range, we’ve got new people working now, it should be great [to have the Premier League back]. Obviously, it is nice to have that constant profit. We’ve managed and the friendlies have helped a little.”Next door, Elland Road Cafe & Sandwich Bar has also been delighted by the return of supporters. Staff have found breaks from matchday queues frustrating but owner Lisa Toon anticipates demand being ‘huge’ ahead of today’s visit of Manchester City for the first Premier League match at Elland Road since early November.
Owner Lisa Toon said: “We’ve obviously just been having friendlies so we’re looking forward to being fully back in full swing, it’s been quite a long break. The breaks are frustrating, you do miss it."Especially coming back after Covid and everything, we had a long break, got back, and then had a break with the World Cup. You get back into the swing of things then it’s the end of the season, then you start back up again, and then we broke again for the World Cup. We’re back in full swing now, ready to go again.
It [the Manchester City game] is going to be huge. They will be queueing out of the door. Every seat will be taken, they’ll be people standing, you won’t be able to move. All the tables outside will be full whether it’s sunny, raining or snowing. It’ll be rammed but it’ll be good because it will be a fantastic atmosphere. The two friendlies have been really strange because we’ve not had our regulars.”
Although the cafe benefits greatly from matchday trade, local employees keep staff on their toes when football is on pause. Lisa added: "We are busy generally through the week anyway with staff over the road at Leeds United and the police staff. We have a busy passing trade.”