Gone are the days of being charged £10 to get into a pub to watch England’s footballers flop in a major tournament. OK, the footballers may still end up flopping – but the opportunities to watch them will be a whole lot more varied and interesting than during past tournaments.
Traditional pubs that abandoned their expensive Premier League TV subscription packages are dusting off their big screens to show England, Wales and Northern Ireland trying their luck in France this summer.
With community centres and sports clubs also joining in, the sports bars and nightclubs that previously dominated the TV sports market have been forced to come up with ever more inventive ways to attract customers. Look out for 360° wraparound screens, swimming pools, cheerleaders, music, table tennis, DJs, sparklers and even, bizarrely, live Brexit-Remain referendum results.
On Saturday, when Wales take on Slovakia and England face Russia, more than 40,000 local pubs, community centres and sports clubs will be screening the big games in what is being hailed as a return to community football.
“Community pubs have always been the heart of football,” said Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of the Association of Licenced Multiple Retailers (ALMR), which represents 20,000 bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants in the UK.
“After the success of the rugby World Cup last year and the football World Cup, community pubs are seeing it as a way of attracting people in, and building that community spirit.”
The tournament will buck the trend of decreasing amounts of pubs showing live football, with landlords balking at fees charged by Sky and BT to host live Premier League matches.
Only 39% of pubs carried televised sport in 2015, down from 50% in 2002, according to the ALMR. Those that held events at previous tournaments have decided not to go with screens this time.
When England played Italy in the 2014 World Cup, the Ministry of Sound erected a giant LED screen and laid on a hog roast in the courtyard of its superclub in Elephant and Castle, London. This year there are no plans for any of the home nations.
Tim Garratt, the general manager of Shaker and Company, a rock music-themed cocktail bar in north London, said that although it had shown football during Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016 won’t be on a big screen next week. “Football does change the atmosphere completely,” he said. “I don’t want people feeling that they don’t want to come in because there will be a load of men standing around, instead of dancing and enjoying the music. If people want to keep an eye on it, then we might keep a screen on – but without the sound.”
Yet there has been an increase in the number of pubs showing tournament games, according to Matchpint.co.uk, a website that provides listings for sports bars. Interest in Wales and Northern Ireland has fuelled the revival – while only 168 bars screened Northern Ireland’s qualifying games, 1,147 will be showing their progress in France – around 90% of Matchpint’s venues.
Paul Corkrey, of Football Supporters Federation Cymru, said the free-to-air games would make it much easier to see Wales play. “A lot of pubs in Cardiff would ban you if you were a football fan,” he said. “Watching an away game could be very difficult because they were only on Sky. But now there will be a lot more places to watch, especially in the Valleys where they’ll let kids in to watch.”
Corkrey and other Welsh fans have lobbied for fanzones in Cardiff and Swansea, without success. Only Belfast will have an open-air arena – with 10,000 seats in the Titanic Quarter showing all Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland matches, with bars, food and a funfair.
London will have a semi-official fanzone for the first time since 2006, when fighting marred an event at Canary Wharf. Hyundai, an official Uefa sponsor, has laid on a 1,000-capacity FanDome in King’s Cross with 360° wraparound screens. Rich Mix, the East End arts hub, is putting on a music festival and will screen all the games live, and several embassies of European countries are hosting events for guests.
The events show why corporate entertainment and sports bars have had to raise their game to compete, according to the ALMR. “Entry charges across the sector as a whole are falling away,” Nicholls said.
“What businesses are doing instead is focusing on pre-ordering and selling packages, rather than saying it’s £5 or £10 on the door. They’re saying, ‘you can come in but it’s such a buzz and lively atmosphere that you need to make sure there’s a pre-booked space’. You’ve got to incentivise people to get off their sofas, especially for an event like this which is free to view.” So east London nightclub Cargo is offering free entry to its giant screens, or guests can pay £10 on the door to pick up four drinks and avoid having to queue at the bar.
In Manchester, the Old Trafford Supporters Club at Hotel Football, a venue owned by former United footballers Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, will have competitions and quizzes. Or, for a twist, fans could go to the Bavarian Beerhouse in Bristol and London, where entry is free except for Germany’s games – those cost £1.
If you do fancy paying, then Zlatan’s Euro 2016 Pop Up at Infernos nightclub in Clapham, south London, will feature arena-style seating and trumpets and sing-a-longs. At Gazza’s House at Club Aquarium, guests will get the chance to enjoy a swimming pool, drinking games and cheerleaders.
Not everything is free or cheap. When England play Wales on 16 June, you could watch the football action at Lord’s, the home of cricket, after which Middlesex will play Sussex in the NatWest T20 Blast. With ticket prices starting at £238, corporate hospitality isn’t dead yet.
