Match times help kick off pub business boom

Favourable timing of England games means pubs are continuing to report bumper sales during the World Cup.

And more is to come after victory over Trinidad & Tobago guaranteed England's passage to the second phase.

With kick-off at 5pm, punters made a bee-line from the office to the pub to watch England beat the Caribbean side 2-0 last Thursday.

Up to 10m extra pints were served that day and 10m more people packed into pubs.

Turnover was also a whopping £30m higher than usual, according to the British Beer & Pub Association.

Roger Arbon, Greene King tenant at the Kings Arms in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said: "We are quite lucky as we are in the middle of town and, because the game started at 5pm, people went to their nearest pub."

He added that takings during the Trinidad & Tobago clash hit £1,300, about a third higher than on a usual Thursday.

However, some licensees and operators say business is at

normal levels, except for the England matches.

Karl Guare, of the Royal Scot at Marple Bridge in Stockport, Cheshire, said his pub began filling up at 4pm for the Trinidad & Tobago game and trade was 1,000% higher than on a usual Thursday.

But Guare said: "It's the England games that are busy. Away from them trade is a bit down.

"Friday night seemed to be busier with women than men, who probably stayed at home after Thursday!"

Simon Ward, spokesman for managed operator Mitchells & Butlers, said trading "depends on the day of the week that the England match falls".

"For the Trinidad game, that was the right time of the week and the right time of the day. There's less support for matches when England don't feature."

Ward said overall trade was "about up to expectations".

Massive Pub Company, which operates sites in the London area, reported a 70% sales uplift during the Trinidad game.

"Last week's Trinidad & Tobago game being at 5pm

was brilliant. It fell perfectly for our West End sites," said MD Peter Linacre.

He predicted England's game with Sweden, at 8pm on Tuesday (after the MA went to press), would benefit Massive's suburban sites as punters would have time to get home to watch.

Hosts and police help prevent World Cup disorder

Action taken by licensees and police has prevented repeats of the riots that plagued Croydon and Boston during Euro 2004.

Closing pubs for an hour after England's first game against Paraguay helped reduce alcohol-fuelled disorder to virtually zero in Croydon, according to the town-centre pubwatch chairman John McKeone.

He said the voluntary agreement by licensees to shut all 120 town-centre venues between 4.30pm and 5.30pm meant customers quickly went home rather than loitered in the streets.

The 50 or so outlets that show matches, less than half the number that screened Euro 2004 games, are using plastic drinks containers and ashtrays and hiring doorstaff for games.

McKeone, manager of Pathfinder's Porter & Sorter pub, said pubwatch members will decide the best approach before each England game.

In Boston, Lincolnshire, venues are displaying posters encouraging people to report potential troublemakers as part of the police-led "In Bars, Not Behind Bars" campaign.

"We are getting intelligence coming in through the hotline and that means it is working," said a spokeswoman for Lincolnshire Police.

She said no major incidents linked to England games had been reported.