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England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina delivered the biggest single night of trading that Britain’s pubs and bars have seen all tournament, with transactions up 145 per cent on the day and late-night trade between 10pm and 2am up 97 per cent, according to new figures from payments company Square.
For a sector that entered the summer counting closures rather than customers, Wednesday’s numbers are the clearest evidence yet that the tournament’s forecast multibillion-pound windfall is landing in tills rather than staying in spreadsheets.
The scale of the semi-final effect becomes obvious when set against the rest of England’s run. The quarter-final against Norway on 11 July lifted pub and bar transactions by 40 per cent, a strong night by any normal measure, yet barely a third of Wednesday’s uplift.
Venues did not even need England on the pitch to feel the benefit. The Spain v France semi-final on 14 July, a fixture with no home interest whatsoever, still gave pubs a 26 per cent lift.
The late-night figure will be particularly welcome. The government’s contingent relaxation of licensing hours allowed licensed premises in England and Wales to keep serving until 1am for the semi-final, and the near-doubling of trade after 10pm suggests operators made every one of those extra minutes count.
Outside London, the biggest winners were in the Midlands and the North. Birmingham topped Square’s table of major English cities, with transactions at pubs, bars and restaurants up 121 per cent on the day of the Argentina match. Southampton followed on 115 per cent, with Manchester close behind on 112 per cent, Bristol on 93 per cent and Sheffield on 76 per cent.
John O’Beirne, CEO of Square International, said the tournament had been a landmark for the industry. “The World Cup has been an important moment for British hospitality. Football fans have turned out to support their country game after game, and England’s match against Argentina drew the largest crowds yet to pubs and bars. Even though England won’t be in the final, we can still expect bars and pubs to see strong trading as people tune into the final weekend of the tournament.”
There is one wrinkle for operators eyeing Sunday’s final. The automatic licensing extension applied only to matches involving a home nation, so with England out, venues wanting to trade beyond their normal hours will need a Temporary Event Notice rather than a free pass.
For SME owners, the numbers carry two lessons beyond the tournament. The first is that big-event demand is now predictable enough to plan for, which is why insurers have been urging operators to prepare for event-driven demand spikes months in advance, from staffing to stock to licensing.
The second is resilience. A 145 per cent surge in card transactions is only good news if the card machines stay up, and June’s Worldpay outage during England’s group game against Ghana showed how quickly a bumper night can turn into a cash-only scramble.
England may not have made the final, but for the nation’s publicans the tournament has already paid out. The question now is whether Sunday’s crowds turn up for the football alone, or simply because going to the pub for the big match has become a habit again.
