Hospitality gets big win from Euro 2024

Pubs are serving up to 90% more pints than usual during England’s Euro 2024 matches, according to new figures released ahead of England’s clash with The Netherlands on Wednesday night.

The revenue cash-in is a welcome boost to a damp summer so far. England’s first match on 16 June against Serbia saw the number of pints sold soaring by over 114% compared to the previous week, which generated 126% extra sales revenue.

The research, by hospitality technology company, Access Hospitality, looked at the data of hundreds of thousands of pints poured at 2,400 venues, where its sales software is in place.

Researchers also looked at payment data from 26 towns and cities to find out where venues had seen the biggest rise. Birmingham topped the table, with 77% more pints served and 78% extra sales.

Also topping the list was Bath at 70% and 71%, followed by Tunbridge at 66% and 69%. All but four of the 26 locations saw at least a 17% rise in the number of pints served, and a 18.55% increase in sales, it reported.

Best place

Ed Fryer, drinks marketing manager at pub chain Fuller’s, which has 400 venues, said that pubs were “the best place to watch the game” if you can’t make it out to Germany.

He said: “Over the past six months, we have worked hard to ensure that we deliver a great customer journey from the moment customers book to the moment they leave us at the end of the match, and sales across all matches, not just England and Scotland games, have reflected this.”

Martin Verdon-Roe, GM Hospitality at The Access Group, said that hospitality had “bounced back” since the last Euros tournament in 2021, where the spectre of Covid was still haunting the pub sector.

Bounced back

He said: “Compared to the last Euros in 2021, when Covid-19 restrictions were still in place, the hospitality industry has bounced back. England clearly want to experience their team’s matches on the big screen surrounded by crowds of people.

“Our research shows that a bar epos system can provide up-to-date data on how much guests are buying, so you don’t have to rely on out-of-date information or gut instinct. Features in your hospitality software, like staff scheduling and guest bookings, also allow you to fill rotas and take pre-orders to reduce waiting times and avoid running out of things people want.”

Separate figures from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) estimates that almost 20 million more pints are expected to be served during the Euros, valued at more than £93 million in extra sales.