Euro 2020: Teesside restaurant to honour free parmo pledge if England wins

A restaurateur so convinced England would bow out of Euro 2020 that he promised to give away meals worth £20,000 is finding the prospect of a Three Lions win hard to swallow.

Joe Franks from Seaton Carew said if England won he would give out 2,000 free parmos, a favourite Teesside dish.

While victory could leave him out of pocket he will be cheering England on.

"It's something we said in jest at the start, not thinking for one minute that this would happen," he laughed.

England take on Italy in the final of the European Championships at Wembley - which could become their first ever Euros title and first major tournament victory since World Cup in 1966.

Mr Franks, who runs The Open Jar restaurants, said if England win he would call through his orders "the second the final whistle goes", so they will be ready for Monday.

"First thing's first, we will be cheering England on, that will still be the priority," he said.

"It will be the day after where we will be kicking ourselves when we have a queue of people wanting free food.

"I'll probably be sick of the sight of them after what's gone on," he laughed.

A parmo is a well-known local dish consisting of a flattened chicken breast caked in breadcrumbs and topped with béchamel sauce and cheese.

In June, Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston vowed to remove promotional banners in his town about parmos, which were branded "embarrassing".

Mr Franks said he would usually sell around 100 parmos a day in each of his restaurants, so he was anticipating to cook up about a week and a half's worth. There are some restrictions.

"They are massive around Teesside, as soon as you venture away from here nobody seems to know what they are," he added.

"Instead of a bottle of champagne we all have parmos around here."

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