Wetherspoon to show World Cup

JD Wetherspoon plans to explicitly market its pubs as the place in which to watch the World Cup.

The company is set to screen most games — and certainly the England ones — at the majority of its sites, said spokesman Eddie Gershon.

It's in contrast to the 2006 World Cup, when managers were given the choice about whether to screen games — and the sound was turned down. "This will be our biggest attack on the World Cup," said Gershon.

"It's something the company is taking very seriously. It will be the first time

during a World Cup that

our pubs will all have TVs

in situ."

Gershon said point-of-sale material for the tournament, which runs from 11 June to 11 July, will be published "sooner rather than later".

"This year we are going out of the way to market our pubs for the World Cup," Gershon added. "We're seeing it as very lucrative."

It's a wake-up call for other pubs to get their World Cup plan in place as soon as possible.

Wetherspoon's is also asking customers for suggestions about what it should do for the tournament on its Facebook page.