Fans resorted to watching football in Currys on Wednesday after pubs in Croydon reduced their capacity to avoid any trouble.

The 1-0 defeat of Slovenia meant the town centre was very festive as ecstatic football fans emptied pubs and took their celebrations to the streets.

Police officers were out in force outside every pub in case the England team lost and the mood turned sour.

One police source said: “We simply weren’t ready for the type and scale of violence from 2004. We responded to it as quickly as we could but we just weren’t ready.

“This time around it’s different. We are out in force and it has been very well organised. There are officers outside nearly every pub, we have roaming patrols and the territorial support group on standby just in case.

“Luckily though everyone seems to be having a good time.”

However, some hardcore football fans, too late to get into the pubs, decided to watch the match in shops like Currys so they could cheer on the country.

Yate’s pub was operating a one in one out policy and had reduced its capacity by 200 people to make sure people could move freely in and out.

Each pub showing the match was hooked up to the town centre radio system with security firm’s, Abal Security, staff all linked in too.