Revellers came close to drinking the district dry in the aftermath of Bradford City's dramatic promotion to the Premiership.
Pubs across the district reported record takings and some ran out of beer as fans thronged together to drink several toasts and wish farewell to the Nationwide League.
Bars, off licence shops and other alcohol outlets were the first to benefit directly from the team's success on Sunday afternoon - one supermarket reporting beer takings of £1,000 in the final half hour of trading. Business leaders are hoping that the mini-boom will extend to all kinds of companies once Bradford becomes a Premier League city in August.
At Haigy's, the claret-and-amber painted pub in Lumb Lane, most of the beer had run out by 9.15pm, said landlady Yvonne Haigh. "It was like the pub with no beer!" she said. "We lost the Tetley's at 9.15pm, also most of the lagers, both ciders and all the bottles of Bud. We were down to Guinness and Murphy's. It was unbelievable."
At the Merry Mason in Bolton Lane, a regular match day drinking spot, landlord John Patel said he had sold about 800 pints of beer compared with the normal Sunday night sales of 240 pints. He plans to reward regulars by throwing a City Promotion party on Saturday, May 22, with a free buffet spread.
And at the Freestyle and Firkin pub in Morley Street, Bradford, the kitchen had to shut so that the chef could collect glasses. The giant pub, which has capacity for 500 drinkers, got through an estimated 5,760 pints of beer on Sunday (40 barrels) according to Charlie Garforth.
"We sold a ridiculous amount and by the end of the evening we had run out of glasses and were selling beer in four pint jugs," he said.
At Asda in Shipley, people who had been watching the game on television swooped on the supermarket's off licence section after the final whistle, according to grocery manager Adrian Taylor. "In the last half an hour of trading we got absolutely hammered," he said. "We sold about £1,000 worth of extra beer."
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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