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By James Davey
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The new boss of Tesco,
Britain's biggest supermarket group, said he expected the
country to celebrate Christmas in a big way this year despite a
recession and government curbs on socialising to stem the spread
of COVID-19.
Ken Murphy, who succeeded Dave Lewis as Tesco CEO last week,
said Britons would be particularly keen to enjoy Christmas after
such a miserable year.
"The overarching sense I feel that Christmas this year is
all about - is giving ourselves and each other a break...and
kind of celebrating the fact that we're all still alive, that
we're all still healthy, that we're as well as we can be and
that we have our closest friends and family near by us," he told
reporters after Tesco reported half year results.
"That's going to be quite a big deal this year after a very
tough year for many, many people," he said.
Murphy said part of his optimism for Christmas followed
"quite strong" Halloween related sales so far.
"You try telling a 10-year old that Halloween's cancelled,"
he said, looking forward to the chocolate-fueled celebrations at
the end of the month.
Social gatherings in England are restricted to no more than
six people to try to contain the coronavirus and large parts of
the country face additional local restrictions.
Americans have been advised to avoid door-to-door
trick-or-treating, attending crowded and indoor parties, and
wearing costume masks this Halloween, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While supermarket sales in Britain could be impacted by
restrictions on households mixing, they will benefit from new
curbs on the opening hours of bars and restaurants.
Former Sainsbury's boss Justin King, currently a
non-executive director of Marks & Spencer, said last
month that Christmas was likely to be characterised by people
having more smaller gatherings spread over the whole of the
two-week holiday period.
(Reporting by James Davey
Editing by Keith Weir)
