Pubs, bars, and shops are getting ready for football fever on Sunday when England play Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
A surge in beer, burger, and pizza sales is expected as fans celebrate the men’s national side’s first-ever major tournament final outside of the UK.
Peter Stone, who runs The Railway Inn in Westfield, north of Ipswich, is ready for a full house.
“We won’t run out of beer,” he told the BBC.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s is forecasting a threefold jump in beer sales while the British Retail Consortium is predicting a 24% jump in food and drink spending from 18-24 year olds.
Pubs and shops are competing for customers who will either watch at home or at a bar.
Mr Stone has introduced a special Euros menu alongside the traditional Sunday roast and said his pub will extend food service time to entice more people in.
Other pubs are also going the extra mile, with The Prince Arthur in Shoreditch opening on a Sunday for the first time since landlord Jesse Charlebois took over 18 months ago.
Mr Charlebois says the pub has introduced drinks promotions, installed an aerial for HD television streaming, and “got all the benches out of the basement”.
If England win, he believes the pub – and the nation – will benefit.
“People are going to go nuts, which is great for the country. We need a little bit of good news.”
Deborah Risbridger, co-owner of The Elm Tree in Ringwood, a town between Bournemouth and Southampton, is expecting 440 people on Sunday.
She told the BBC her husband and fellow co-owner is a football coach “and as a result our crowd are all footy mad”.
Jackie Fairburn, landlady of the Hare and Hounds in Leeds, told the BBC earlier this week she has had to cap attendance at her pub to 400.
She said she had struggled with the washout summer, as the pub only tends to open up outside when the weather is nice enough.
Lots of other businesses are also hoping their Euros boost will continue on the weekend:
- Lidl expects a 20% spike in BBQ meat product sales over the weekend
- Pub and bar revenue will see a £120m boost, says trade group UKHospitality
- Asda has recorded a sevenfold increase in searches for England-related products
- ‘TV’ was the most popular search term for Argos in July
- An extra 10 million pints will be poured in the match build up, says the British Beer and Pub Association
- Three quarters of hospitality businesses will need extra staff, according to staffing platform Brigad
- Tesco predicts four million packs of beer and cider will be snapped up between Friday and Sunday
The competition between pubs and shops for customers became heated after bars complained about Co-op’s advertising campaign to get people to watch the games at home.
A Co-op spokesperson said the advert was a “light-hearted” way of showing an alternative to watching at the pub “at a time when the cost of living is high”.
Supermarkets are adjusting their opening hours to give their staff a chance to watch the game.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s will close all their smaller convenience stores at 19:30, half an hour before kick off.
Meanwhile Lidl will open its shops in England an hour later on Monday, so those who have celebrated late the night before can still make it in.
Despite the seeming lenience from some employers, Kate Palmer, director at employment law adviser Peninsula, encourages caution.
“Don’t call in sick [on Monday], especially if you had a leave request denied,” she advised fans who might be staying up late on Sunday evening.
However, while pubs and shops forecast a boom, gigs and festivals may see a drop in attendance from England fans.
“They are understandably adjusting their plans,” said Richard Davies, founder of ticket resale marketplace Twickets, which he says has seen a rise in activity.
Wireless Festival organisers said the three-day festival will finish early on Sunday so people can watch the game. Other events are also being rescheduled.