A week before England\u2019s World Cup semifinal against Argentina on Wednesday, Debbie Sahay carried two flat-screen televisions out of her house and into The Queen\u2019s Arms Pub. One came from her living room, the other came from her bedroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my living room and my bedroom now,\u201d Sahay said with a laugh, gesturing toward the TVs now mounted in the bistro side of the English pub.<\/p>\n
Sahay and her husband took over the business in March, and she said the extra screens were less of an upgrade and more of a necessity.<\/p>\n
As England advanced through the FIFA World Cup, crowds at The Queen\u2019s Arms swelled to a size that left mere inches between patrons. Fans arrived hours before kickoff to claim tables, staff members were called in from out of town and every available television featured a bright green soccer pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Argentina scored an 86th-minute equalizer against England in the semifinal, groans echoed through the restaurant and spilled onto the street. Just days before, fans sang in booths and waved blow-up St. George flags to celebrate England\u2019s win against Norway. For 90 minutes at a time, the quiet English pub in the small community of Haile is transformed into one of the loudest rooms in the Gainesville area.<\/p>\n
With the influx of new customers, the pub required more support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Queen\u2019s Arms scheduled all 15 of its staff members, converted food service to takeout containers to speed up orders, opened additional seating to watch the game and sectioned off a space specifically for ordering pints and special-edition meals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rebecca Williams, one of the pub\u2019s partners and director of events, said the pub has been made special by the people of Gainesville.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we win, this place is going to lose their minds,\u201d she said before kickoff. \u201cThey sing songs, they yell at the top of their lungs. It gives me goosebumps to think about because it\u2019s unlike anything we have here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the logistical challenges, Williams said the atmosphere during games has made every shift worthwhile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Sahay, who moved to Gainesville from Wrexham, North Wales, two years ago, the environment felt surprisingly familiar.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody was singing \u2018Hey Jude\u2019 and all the chants we do in the UK,\u201d she said. \u201cI sent the videos back home to my friends and they were like, \u2018That could be any pub in our village.\u2019… I was always worried that I\u2019d miss the vibe [from back home], but the vibe here is better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Enjoy what you’re reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n
The Queen\u2019s Arms has been a fixture in the Haile community for decades. After moving to Gainesville from England, former co-owner Jenny Nanson helped transform the site into an authentic British pub, opening the business with longtime friends Jayne and Abbas Yazdi in 2009. Although Jayne Yazdi has since passed, Nanson credits her with the idea to focus on a British theme.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sahay first met the previous owner while watching a European Championship final there and eventually began working behind the bar. When the opportunity to own the business opened earlier this year, she and her husband pounced on the opportunity with a goal in mind: to make it feel even more like home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The menu now features imported British ingredients, including a Full Monty English breakfast, Welsh rarebit and traditional haddock fish and chips served with mushy peas. Shelves are stocked with British snacks, while Wrexham Lager \u2014 brewed in her hometown \u2014 has become one of the pub\u2019s biggest sellers during the tournament. During England\u2019s World Cup run, the lager sold roughly three times more than any draft beer, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor all those people that want to go to the UK and they can\u2019t for whatever reason, they can come here and walk through the door and feel like they\u2019re in a pub in London,\u201d Sahay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On any given gameday, the pub hosts residents from all around the world. Many come from the UK themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to watch at a place where people are also invested in the game and care about it,\u201d said Kiah Kramer, a University of Florida doctoral student from England.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere has attracted more than just England fans, though. Some patrons have simply been searching for a place that felt authentic.<\/p>\n
Jaime Zelaya, a local Gainesville resident and an Argentina fan, said he\u2019s been coming to the pub for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to watch a soccer match here \u2026 I came here for the England and Ghana game, and I was like, \u2018I love this atmosphere\u2019,\u201d Zelaya said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit odd as an Argentina fan coming to an English pub, but \u2026 it was fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many regulars, the World Cup has simply magnified what already makes The Queen\u2019s Arms special.<\/p>\n
Kelly Anderson, Gainesville resident and local business owner of LAE Beauty Bar, has been coming to the pub for nearly 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the sense of community extends well beyond soccer. When one bartender had a baby, regulars and employees raised money to support her family. Anderson says she even met her boyfriend at the pub.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIts become a family,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t really have a lot of places like that where you walk in, and all the regulars come every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former owner Jenny Nanson still catches herself referring to the restaurant as \u201cwe\u201d, even though she retired from the business years ago. This is her third World Cup she\u2019s spent viewing from The Queen\u2019s Arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere in England itself for the World Cup is unbelievable \u2026 the pub gives us\u2026what we\u2019re missing from home,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s now part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the World Cup winds down, Sahay hopes many first-time visitors continue to return. She has already started planning for the English Premier League season, when she\u2019ll once again open early for morning kickoffs. But whether people come for soccer, the Haile Community Farmers Market or one of the restaurant’s weekly tea parties, Sahay hopes visitors leave feeling like they found more than just a sports bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want you to feel like you\u2019re part of my family,\u201d she said. \u201cI call it The Queen\u2019s Arms family. You\u2019re coming through the door; you\u2019re coming into my living room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Lily Perkins @lperkins@alligator.org. Follow her on X @lily_perkins10.<\/p>\n
\n The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.\n <\/p>\n
Lily Perkins<\/p>\n
Lily Perkins is a fourth-year journalism sports and media student in her first semester at The Alligator as a sports enterpise writer. In her free time she enjoys cooking, spending time with friends, and of course, watching sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A week before England\u2019s World Cup semifinal against Argentina on Wednesday, Debbie Sahay carried two flat-screen televisions out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-298178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}