TNT Sports stars Lescott and Fletcher back pubs as home of live football

TNT Sports pundit and ex-Manchester City and England defender Joleon Lescott believes pubs remain one of the best places for supporters to enjoy live football, offering a sense of community that cannot always be replicated elsewhere.

Asked about the appeal of watching matches in pubs, the former England and Manchester City defender highlighted the social side of the experience.

“It’s different because it’s not always the same fan base,” he said. “It just might be a community of people that live locally. Sunday afternoon might be the time you go to the pub with your mates or the people that live close to you, and see the same faces, and then all of a sudden, you become a bit more friendly.”

Lescott suggested football in pubs brings together supporters of different clubs who share a common love of the game.

“It’s just going out and enjoying it,” he said, noting that modern football fandom is evolving. “Not everyone, especially this new generation, they tend to be more fans of players than teams.”

While packed sports bars can create memorable occasions, Lescott admits he has a particular soft spot for watching football with a smaller group of friends and stated his favourite pub is the Swan Inn in Wilmslow, where he will go a few times per season with his mates to watch the action.

“Me and my few lads that live locally in Manchester, now and again we will go on a Sunday and watch Super Sunday if it’s a big game,” he said. “But more in the summer tournaments, I enjoy watching the summer tournaments. It’s a lot more friendly because obviously everyone’s supporting the same team, which helps.”

Equally passionate

Fellow TNT Sports colleague Darren Fletcher, who is a renowned commentator told The Morning Advertiser there is no shortage of storylines for football fans to get excited about but is equally passionate about where many supporters will experience those moments: the pub.

Fletcher, a lifelong Nottingham Forest fan, is particularly looking forward to seeing his team take centre stage early in the campaign.

“I’m a Forest fan, so the fact we’re doing Liverpool v Forest in the second week is going to be great,” he said.

The broadcaster believes this season has more intrigue than most, with managerial changes and major squad overhauls creating fresh narratives throughout the division.

“There’s loads of great stories at the outset of this Premier League season, maybe more than we had at this stage last year,” he said.

Away from the pitch, Fletcher spoke passionately about the role pubs play in football culture, especially as the cost of attending matches continues to rise.

“It’s getting more and more expensive for people to go and watch Premier League matches,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to get together. People get together. It’s a community feel. Everybody’s in there. You’re watching the game. It gives you that distraction.

“It’s even more important now than it ever has been because it was always very affordable for people, but it’s getting less and less affordable for families. It’s an alternative way to be part of that community so it’s vital.”

Research cited by the sports broadcaster showed a record breaking nine Premier League teams competed in European competitions last season, resulting in 113 games featuring those teams as well as a Premier League team in each final and pubs that screened the UEFA Champions League Final sold 19% more pints (source: Oxford Partnership).

Meanwhile, 17 of the top 25 days for the on-trade when it came to increased sales in 2025 had sport on TV and 11 of those days had major events on TNT Sports, helping to deliver on screen and on-tap (source: Oxford Partnership).

TNT Sports out-of-home Premier League audiences were up 42% year-on-year across the season (source: Yonder Audience Research Data August 2024 to May 2026).

Loyalty-style offers

Although many fans enjoy the atmosphere of large-scale screenings, Lescott says his preference is often for a quieter setting with fellow football obsessives.

“People go to watch the game with people that want to watch the game rather than be in the house with family members, kids running around, and dinner being cooked,” he said. “I just want to watch the game. I just need to see the game because I’d rather go where the game’s on and there’s 12, 15 people rather than 40, 50.”

Lescott also believes pubs can do more to encourage regular customers through loyalty-style offers. “I would reward people for coming more often,” he said. “If you do come for the previous three games or the previous three Sundays or whatever it is, then the fourth one... you might get a free pints or whatever it is. Something for free. But you reward the loyalty to the pub.”

Fletcher explained: “When the game’s finished, everybody stays together after and talks about it and breaks it down. It’s great. It just kind of brings everybody together.”

Despite spending much of his life commentating on elite football, Fletcher remains a supporter at heart and says he’d happily be in the pub if he was not working.

“I absolutely love it, and you know what? That’s why I’ve got the dream job because if I wasn’t working, I’d be there, and if I wasn’t there, I’d be in the pub watching it.”

He even has a favourite venue. “A mate of mine in Nottingham has a pub called the Boot Room, which is right by the entrance to the City Ground,” he said. “If I’m going to go out and watch a match or watch a boxing fight or whatever it is, I’ll be in the Boot Room in Nottingham.”

And for licensees showing TNT Sports, Fletcher has a simple suggestion for creating the right atmosphere: “Keep the volume turned up. Let me and Coisty (fellow pundit Ally McCoist) keep customers enthused while they’re in the pub.”

TNT Sports will be screening matches from these six competitions this season: Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Emirates FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup.