THERE will be no big screen showing the football world cup in Colchester.

Council bosses had looked at screening England games at Castle Park but decided against it, citing the unpredictable nature of the timings of England’s potential knockout matches and problems with “crowd control”.

It has now emerged the council did enter into talks with Weston Homes Community Stadium but told the Gazette there are no plans for public screenings there.

Tim Young, deputy leader of Colchester Council, said: “It’s no secret we did look at using the big screen for it but we decided against that. We did look elsewhere and asked for anyone who wanted to run a commercial event to come forward but no-one did.

“There were discussions with the stadium but that never really went forward.”

He added: “The bars and clubs will be happy about that and I would encourage anyone who wants to watch the games in public to make use of them as long as they behave responsibly, of course.”

A Budweiser World Cup Fan Zone, dubbed a “real football carnival” will be in place in Chelmsford and will show each of England’s group stage games.