England will take on Croatia later today (Wednesday 17 June) at the Dallas Stadium, Arlington, Texas, USA. The match will kick-off at 9pm UK time.
Figures from hospitality technology provider Zonal highlighted soaring demand from consumers to watch England start their World Cup campaign in pubs.
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The data, which measured bookings made for up to two hours before kick-off, underscored the importance of pubs when it comes to watching major sporting events.
Get together
Further analysis of transaction insight by Reward showed England group games at the 2024 Euro Championship delivered a 42% sales increase for pubs, with trade body UKHospitality (UKH) predicting a similar boost during this year’s World Cup.
UKH chair Kate Nicholls said: “The pub is categorically the best place to watch England at the World Cup.
“Bookings up almost 300% for tonight’s game shows that, despite the later than usual kick-off times, England fans want to get together to watch the game, cheer on the team and support their local.
“The World Cup will be a massive boost for our pubs and bars, with sales set to be up more than 40% across the group stage as fans gather for the games.
“Fingers crossed tonight’s game is the start of a long World Cup campaign for the Three Lions, in what would be a huge boost for both football fans and hospitality.”
This followed separate research from Zonal and NIQ, which earlier this week showed more than a third of consumers planned to watch the tournament in a hospitality venue.
Boost to trade
In total, 9.3m British consumers are expected to watch at least one game in a pub, bar or restaurant this summer, according to the latest GO Technology report
Moreover, recent data from Oxford Partnership showed more than 12m pints of draught beer and cider were poured in pubs across Great Britain during Scotland’s match against Haiti.
According to Oxford Partnership, pubs sold an average of 379 pints per outlet on between Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June, generating approximately £2,082 in revenue with overall rate of sale up 1.6% compared to an average June weekend in 2025.
The World Cup could also boost sales of low & no beer, with research from alcohol-free drinks company DioniLife having found 53% of fans planning to watch the World Cup expected to drink alcohol-free beer during at least some games.
