England football fever as pubs booming for Euro 2020

Punters packed out pubs to see Gareth Southgate's men make history by booking a place in Sunday's Euro 2020 final, and now venues are set for a bumper weekend as drinkers cross their fingers for the Three Lions to go one further.

After months starved of trade as lockdown shuttered pubs across the country, the Euros has provided a welcome tonic, with England's success leading to busy beer gardens for the first time in more than 16 months.

A host of pubs are already booked out for Sunday, with fans eager to get their place ahead of the game, while others are expecting queues ready for when they open.

Landlords are predicting a busy day, with many fans expected to get in place well ahead of the 8pm kick off.

Although the demand is there, pubs are facing the complication of Covid policies limiting the number of people allowed through the doors – restricting what would otherwise be an even bigger windfall.

The Salopian in Shrewsbury has been full to capacity by 2pm for all the England 8pm games according to landlord Ollie Parry.

Mr Parry said they had turned away nearly 1,000 people looking for a place to watch the Denmark game, and expect Sunday to provide another repeat.

He said: "We turned 800 people away. Every England game has been like that, we have had to turn literally hundreds away.

"We open at 11am but I honestly think on Sunday there will be people waiting outside at 11am. It will be a carnival atmosphere and I reckon it'll be full by 2pm."

He said the tournament had provided a welcome post-lockdown boost for the pub.

Mr Parry said: "We have done extremely well considering we are under social distancing, we are more than happy with it after months of being closed, and now we are just looking forward to July 19."

Terri Siveter, manager at the Compasses in Ludlow, said Euro 2020 had come at the perfect time with Sunday set to be the busiest yet.

She said: "It will be good for the tills no doubt. It's just nice to have an atmosphere again – something that feels a bit like normality and it's nice for people to have a laugh and socialise."

Ms Siveter said the tournament itself had been a big boost for trade.

She said: "It has been really good. Even the non-England games, people have been thinking I will just go and have a pint and watch it and when it comes to England there is a real togetherness about it – people want to watch it together."

She added: "We have been open since we could reopen but before the tournament started it was pretty slow, it has been good timing."

In Shifnal, The Plough is expecting another busy evening come Sunday, with expectant fans leaving places fully booked for the final as far back as England’s 4-0 victory over Ukraine.

It comes after another fully booked evening at the pub for the 2-1 win over Denmark.

General manager, Claire Smith, said: “We have had to take bookings, I had a waiting list for the final since the Ukraine game – some people have been pretty confident.”

Claire said that most pubs had been delighted to see the extra custom generated by the football.

She said: “It has been great. A lot of pubs are the same, we needed this. We have been shut for a total of five months so it is a much welcome boost to our trade.”

Claire said she was expecting a hectic Sunday – win or lose – and is hoping the early birds go steady.