Drinks trade prepares for Euro 2024 final

Sunday could be the biggest event for the drinks trade in the UK since the pandemic. db investigates what it means for the on- and off-trade.

The drinks trade are gearing up for one of its busiest days of the year on Sunday as a welcome boost to the industry after a damp summer and a cost of living crisis has squeezed wallets.

Pubs are currently preparing to serve 10 million additional pints during the Euro 2024 final on Sunday, on a day which will also features the Wimbledon Championships tennis final in the afternoon.

It comes as England are set to play Spain at 8pm in a match which will be watched by tens of millions across the UK at home and in the on-trade.

According to reservations website DesignMyNight, reservations in on-trade venues for the game peaked at 16 per second after the semi-final result, which is against a normal baseline figure of around 1.4.

London pubco Young’s said that it was already almost fully booked for the final across its venues that are showing the match.

Sunday trading

With the match taking place on Sunday evening, it is hoped that the new home secretary Yvette Cooper will extend licensing hours temporarily today (Friday).

The change in rules for the Sunday hours was a move that was first proposed by the previous Conservative administration. It had said that late-night opening hours, potentially to 1am on Monday morning, would be allowed if England made it to the final of the tournament.

The last time this was put in place was for King Charles’ coronation. Just under half of pubs who were allowed later opening hours for the semi-final on Wednesday night did so, but it is expected that even more will take up the option this weekend, should Cooper sign off the extension.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) is hoping it will be a bumper weekend for the struggling pub trade, as publicans look to make up for a damp summer to date. According to its figures, the progress of England throughout the tournament has been worth a staggering £227m in additional beer sales.

Meanwhile, the trade association for the on-trade, UK Hospitality, said that if England were to win the competition, the overall sector will be getting a more than £800m uplift, and that venues can expect to see an increase of sales by around £120m this weekend alone.

Retail

Retail is also looking to cash-in on the event, although there has been some controversy around advertising for the football tournament against a struggling on-trade.

Co-op recently landed themselves in hot water with publicans, when the retailer stated in an advert that fans would be better to “stay in with two pizzas and four beers” and watch the match rather than go to the pub where it is “hard to see the screen”.

The Campaign for Pubs sent a letter to Co-op’s chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq accusing the firm of “openly and deliberately undermining pubs and publicans’ livelihoods”.

But it would appear that retailers are expecting big sales. Tesco has reported that alongside strong food sales — including one million pizzas — it expects to sell four million packs of beer and cider and 1.2 million cans of low- and no-alcohol products, alongside 2.5 million bottls of wine.

Champagne could win big too, with an expectation of 20,000 bottle of fizz sold to wash down the celebrations, should England win the trophy.

Major operation

Ordering manager at Tesco Jason Binks described this weekend as a “major operation” to ensure its shelves were fully stocked with booze, as punters look to have screening parties of the match and also the Wimbledon final.

Binks said that the firm had a “well-rehearsed supply plan” to ensure the expected levels of demand could be met.

Sainsbury’s is also preparing for the big weekend and the expectation of large sales of drink.

It reported that it expects beer sales to be 200% more year-on-year, and it also said that sales of sparkling wine and RTD cocktail cans are already up 30% ahead of the final weekend.