The South Shields pub where it is Christmas every day: The New Cyprus keeps decorations up all year to make up for lost festive season

The pub in Chichester Road, South Shields went to town with its Christmas decorations in December – only to find it could not reopen again under Coronavirus restrictions on hospitality venues.

But when measures were eased on April 12 and the pub was able to serve punters once again, new owner, Sinia Jazwi, decided to keep the decorations up in an effort to bring the joy of the festive season to drinkers every time they visit.

Sinia, 37, who took over the landmark pub in March 2020, said the decorations have been a hit with customers making up for lost time.

She said: “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.

“We decided to keep them hanging throughout the year [and] everyone coming in says it’s great.

"People are saying; ‘eee you have the christmas decorations up’ and loads of people have had their photo taken in front of them.

"No one thinks it’s weird!

"We’re just going to have Christmas all year and we’re going to keep the decorations up until New Year.

"We hope everyone has a good Christmas this year.”

Sinia, who owned the Chichester Arms for seven years before it closed on March 15, 2020, said she had only been able to open The New Cyprus Hotel for a matter of weeks in 2020 after taking it over because of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Sinia was able to use the time in lockdown to give the pub a full revamp, including a stunning new beer garden.

"We have an unreal atmosphere and it has been really busy [since we reopened],” she said.

“The beer garden has been really well-received.

"We just want to have back what we all missed out on last year.

"This year is a bit of a catch up year for everyone…we’ve not been able to go to the pub and see mates…everyone has missed out on doing everything they love and they just want to be back at it.”

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