Pubs are gearing-up to serve an extra 5.5million pints for England’s quarter final clash with Norway.
Trade body the British Beer and Pub Association reckons the World Cup dual – pitting England caption hero Harry Kane against Manchester City super striker Erling Haaland – will give the nation’s watering holes a £27.5million boost.
The 10pm kick-off is also welcome compared with the gruelling 2am for England’s last 16 thriller against Mexico. More than nine million fans watched on the BBC as the Three Lions beat Mexico in a 3-2 nail-biter – the biggest TV audience for a live UK broadcast at that hour. The victory sparked the biggest day ever recorded for iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website and app.
However, the more civilised time of the Norway encounter means an estimated 24 million will watch, according to discount website VoucherCodes.
The BBPA is forecasting pubs will sell a whopping 20.4 million pints on Saturday as a whole, compared with a normal 14.9 million, equating to 37% surge. Takings for the day could top £100million, it says.
Emma McClarkin, BBPA chief executive, said: “Without doubt, the pub remains the best place for fans to come together and cheer on England which is why we expect up to 5.5 million extra pints to be sold this Saturday during the England-Norway match.”
She is also the opportunity to deliver a message to the Treasury: “As anticipation for the quarter finals builds, it’s important to remember what our teams have in common.
“Both England and Norway pay some of the highest rates of beer duty in Europe, with England fans paying twelve times more than Spain. We’re asking the Government to bring permanent relief to the sector by bringing beer duty in line with the European average and implementing a meaningful draught discount, keeping pints affordable and pubs the home of live sport.”
Landlady Dawn Slater, who runs The Garricks Head in Urmston, Greater Manchester, said the pub has been fully booked for the Norway match since Tuesday this week, with more than 400 fans inside and in the outside garden area.
A combination of the footie and the heat weather – and both on a Saturday – mean supermarkets and other shops are expecting a sales bonanza.
Discount supermarket Aldi is predicting its biggest beer sales day of the entire year so far. It expects customers to snap-up almost two million lagers and ales, one million packs of crisps, and 430,000 pizzas.
VoucherCodes estimates fans will blow £385.5million during England’s quarter final, beating all previous World Cup matches. With football fever at an all time high, it reckons pubs and bars are set to be jam-packed as 6.7million head through the doors, more visitors than any of the other games so far and almost double England’s last game against Mexico.
Hospitality venues in general could benefit from an extra £64.7million boost from drink alone. A further £40.4million could be spent on food during the game. VoucherCodes also believes 17.4million people will be either hosting or heading to watch parties, triggering a £280.3million windfall for retailers.
Alex Lawrence, from data firm Circana, said: “Another rise in drinks sales is very likely this weekend as the hot weather joins forces with a Saturday night quarter-final to give retailers what could be their biggest spending increase since the tournament began four weeks ago.”
