AS England's first match in the World Cup got under way, you would have been forgiven for assuming football-mad North-Easteners would have been firmly ensconced in their easy chairs for yesterday's game.

But although the region is famously addicted to football, it is also devoted to shopping - as the crowd of people at Ikea, at Tyneside's MetroCentre, could testify.

The Swedish furniture store had not organised anything special for the match, opening as usual at 11am - with the announcement that England had just scored.

There were murmurs of approval from the waiting crowd, though hardly the frenzied cheering filling pubs and living rooms across the region at that moment.

Karen Gallagher, 14, from Durham, stood wrapped in a St George's flag with her mother Karen.

She said: "I watched the beginning, but then we set off to come here, which was kind of upsetting because I won't get to see the rest."

The Priddle family, from Sunderland, were less enthusiastic.

Michael Priddle, 43, said: "I'm interested in the match, but not enough to make a point of watching it."

His wife Christine, 42, said: "Sundays and Bank Holidays are the only times we've got to come here."

The store was showing the match on its televisions, though only the odd child lingered to watch, and there were English and Swedish flags in its restaurant.

Manager Carole Reddish said it wouldn't have been practical to do much more.

"We're just too busy on Sundays," she said. "We normally have three or four times as many people, but there is still a fair amount coming in. We like the fact that we work for a Swedish organisation, but all the staff are England supporters.