South Shields pub The New Cyprus finally says goodbye to Christmas after more than a year of decorations

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The team at The New Cyprus Hotel in South Shields went to town ahead of Christmas 2020 with a dazzling array of decorations.

But tiered covid restrictions meant the Chichester Road pub – and all others in the North East could not reopen after the end of the second national lockdown, meaning it missed out on the festive season.

“It took us three weeks to dress the pub for Christmas, we had the decorations up at the end of October, but then we didn’t open,” said owner Sinia Jazwi.

Sinia Jazwi in The New Cyprus Hotel with some of the pub's Christmas decorations.

Lockdown Three followed in January, meaning the pub stayed closed right through winter.

However when measures were eased in the spring and pubs were able to serve punters again, Sinia, who had taken over the pub in March 2020, decided to keep the decorations up in a bid to bring the joy of the festive season to drinkers every time they visit.

“We’re just going to have Christmas all year and we’re going to keep the decorations up until New Year,” she said at the time.

The decorations were a hit with the customers, and stayed up even as the pub flew the flags to cheer on England in the Euros during the warm summer months.

But now, after the twelve days of Christmas 2021 came to a close, it is time for them to come down.

“It’s now time to fully function as normal and operate, enjoy and celebrate the whole year through,” said Sinia.

And the landlady and her team are now looking forward to celebrations in the coming months.

The pub is already planning to decorate for Valentine’s Day and has events lined up January including Burns’ Night on Tuesday, January 25 and a Clairvoyant night on Thursday, January 27.

The pub is known for helping good causes, and The Burns Night celebration will help raise funds to allow staff at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust access a British Sign Language course to support those who need help communicating. Tickets are £6 and can be purchased from the pub.