Pubs close their doors to keep out football hooligans

Pubs in a West Midlands town shut their doors for nine hours to deter visiting football hooligans.

West Midlands police called on their close links with Solihull Pubwatch to ask pubs to shut their doors when groups of visiting London football fans marched through the Birmingham suburb on a Saturday afternoon earlier this month.

Solihull Pubwatch chairman Paul Thompson, licensee of the Barley Mow, said eight pubs closed their doors to protect themselves and customers, as well as to "encourage" the unwanted visitors to leave the town.

Police later said that members of the notorious Chelsea Headhunters hooligan gang had descended on the town on the way to see their side play Birmingham City, expecting police presence to be focused on the city centre.

Mr Thompson said: "It's the first time we've ever had any trouble like this here. The hooligans clearly thought we'd be easy pickings in Solihull, and I'm pleased to say that wasn't the case."

Mr Thompson estimated the total loss of takings for pubs in the town at upwards of £15,000 for the afternoon.

He said: "We hope it's a one-off gesture which will discourage them from trying anything like this again. However, we had a Pubwatch meeting afterwards where we took the view that we would definitely do the same thing again if necessary. We work very closely with the police and fully support their decision that this was the right approach."