Summer may be over but autumn offers bright prospects for li
This year's Rugby World Cup is set to be the biggest yet and will give pubs the chance to present themselves as the place to watch live sport. More than 60 hours of rugby will be screened over six weeks as 20 nations battle it out for a place in the final on 22 November. The event, especially taken together with the climax of the qualifying stages of the European Football Championships, is expected to hand pubs a bumper autumn, following what, by all accounts, has been a record summer. Apologies to those who resent football being mentioned in a piece about rugby, but comparisons are being drawn all over the place. Like last year's Football World Cup, rugby's equivalent is being played on the other side of the world, and so once again features a large number of breakfast kick-offs. In some areas, as many applications are being made for early licences as during the soccer event, if not more. In Watford, Hertfordshire, magistrates had received 10 applications from local pubs by 26 August, despite a deadline of 29 September. In Reading, Berkshire, magistrates say interest in the event had been strong, with applications being submitted early. The rugby fan was given a huge favour by the pub trade last year when Martin Gough, manager of the White Hart in Bristol, won the right for all pubs to open early to screen sports events. In the tradition of the judge who asked: "Who is Gazza?", magistrates had earlier ruled that the World Cup was not a "special occasion" and therefore pubs should not be allowed to open outside normal hours. The White Hart ruling set a precedent and now magistrates are much more open to applications. A spokesman for the Magistrates' Association says: "We were pleased at the White Hart ruling it makes things a lot simpler when subsequent occasions arise." A spokesman at Watford Magistrates Court comments: "Applications will generally be granted unless there are quite specific objections from the police, based on residents' views or real problems at the pub." The general perception among magistrates and the police is that rugby fans are more civilised than football fans and therefore less likely to cause trouble. In Bradford, a source in the licensing department observes: "Pubs need to apply for a special order of exemption, listing all the times of the matches they want to show." Licences will generally be granted for the duration of a match. By 28 August, only one pub the Walkabout had applied. It's a moot point as to whether the courts can attach conditions to licences. Bow Street Magistrates say no conditions are allowed, and are taking applications for occasional licences. They have received "quite a few" already. The best advice is to contact your local licensing officer or magistrates' court to see how applications are being handled in your area. Alternatively, you could choose to rely on the highlights and repeats package offered by ITV and Sky, which is still being negotiated. Whatever you decide to do, it might be worth upgrading your equipment. Latest systems make full use of LCD technology and leading suppliers are reporting a surge in demand, so don't get left behind. According to sales and marketing director Craig Ward of Blucat, upgrading systems almost always boosts the turnover of a pub. If you're looking to persuade people that the pub is the place to watch sport, make sure customers can actually see the action. It might be worth having a screen installed behind the bar so that people can order a drink without missing any of the game. At the Angel & Crown in the London suburb of Richmond, Keith Bellwood has just upgraded to plasma screens from projectors. "I kept the projectors but have added three 42in plasma screens so that wherever you are in the pub, you can see at least two screens. You can watch them from almost any angle, wall-mount them they're discreet and they look good." It may have escaped the attention of many pubs that all the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final itself are to be played outside normal pub hours, with kick-offs ranging from 7.30am to 10am. Indeed, there are only about four games of any real domestic interest that are being screened after 11am. There is a real chance that all four "home nations" will survive the group stages. In any case, it would be a huge shock if England failed to make the latter stages of the competition. There is a chance that England will face Wales in a quarter-final on 9 November, kick-off 10am. England should win and move on to face, possibly, Ireland, on 16 November in a semi-final starting at 9am. So the importance of applying for an early licence could not be stated more strongly. An England v Ireland semi-final would arouse intense passions in the rugby world and beyond. You wouldn't want to miss it. OK, so once you've got your licence, what do you dowith it? Are people really goingto turn up for England's group match against Uruguay on Sunday, 2 November, at 7.30 in the morning? Probably not, unless you can entice them with offers of fruit juice, coffee, full English breakfasts and the prospect of New Zealand thrashing Wales for elevenses. If you do plan to open as early as that, be aware that your licence may force you to close down again immediately after the match is over, until normal hours. Some venues are going one step further than breakfasts, offering enticements such as brandy and croissants; Champagne and fruit slices, beer and bacon sarnies. Some are tying drinks and food together as a package, others, such as the White Hart in Bristol, which set the ball rolling last year with that ground-breaking court case, are simply offering special breakfasts and allowing customers to buy drink separately. A responsible attitude may need to be taken towards some of the key dates. On 12 October, for example, there are three consecutive matches involving home teams Wales kick off at 9am against Canada; Scotland take up the cudgels against Japan at 11am and England face a 1pm kick-off against Georgia. Something to bear in mind is that the majority of the important fixtures take place at weekends, so most customers will not have work to go to after the match. They are more likely to drink more during the game and stick around afterwards. The chances are that there will be strong competition from pub chains such as Walkabout and Sports Café. Walkabout is working with Aussie brands, which, as well as lagers, include Jacob's Creek and, more subtly, Bundaberg Rum. The chain did very well out of last year's football World Cup, churning out bacon sarnies bythe dozen. One lesson everyone learned was: keep it simple. People don't want to be distracted from the match by too much in the way of food. Fans want food they don't have to look at while eating it, and sarnies fit the bill. Depending on how much enticement your customers need to turn out to watch their team, you might like to provide free food to anyone who buys a drink perhaps a drink you want to promote. Leading brands are keen to take advantage of the festivities, but their ability to do so is hampered by the legalities of sponsorship arrangements. Heineken is the "Official Beer" of the event. Other brands staging promotions may not use the words Rugby, World or Cup. This is a real pain for brands with strong rugby traditions such as Guinness, John Smith's and Tetley's. They are all planning limited and focussed activity. For example, Tetley's association with the England and Scotland rugby teams will be marked by a range of activities aimed at supporting the two teams throughout the tournament while "delivering the total rugby experience to fans". Under the "Thirst for Rugby" theme, Carlsberg-Tetley will be offering consumers a Tetley's Ruck N' Roll game when they buy four pints of Tetley's, as well as supplying point-of-sale material to help draw fans into pubs. C-T has also signed up England captain Martin Johnson, who will be leading all Tetley's trade activities as the brand ambassador, and this will be supported by 48-sheet adverts featuring the Jonny Wilkinson "Smoothest Drop" campaign, which will run across England during the last t
