I AM glad the Prime Minister has backed a call to allow UK pubs to have an extended licence for England’s first World Cup game this summer (Echo, Feb 3). The match against Italy kicks off at 11pm. Pubs could look forward to bumper business if they have permission to stay open after the usual closing time.

The tournament takes place on the other side of the world and Brazil is in a different time zone to us. Allowing pubs to stay open for an extra couple of hours seems like an eminently sensible idea to me.

During the 2002 World Cup finals, held in South Korea and Japan, England fans were granted permission to go to pubs early in the morning to watch the Three Lions do battle. So why not allow extended opening times in 2014, especially when the pub trade is not as busy as it used to be?

Word has it that the Home Office believes the event is not “a one-off” like the Queen’s jubilee and it does not consider the tournament “of national importance”.

Where have they been for the past 84 years, since the first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay ?

At a time when many pubs in England are going out of business, the decision not to allow the extended opening hours is quite ludicrous, especially for such an important national event.

The Home Office’s decision will not stop people drinking at that time of the night; they have just encouraged folks to drink at home instead of in their local boozer.

If the Three Lions do well, every single area in every large town and city in England will see people dancing to our glorious World Cup anthem, Three Lions, along with some instrumental flamenco classics thrown in for good measure.

This needs to be addressed again. Come Mr Cameron, give the pubs a big pay day and let them stay open late.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington.