While it appears that London pubs have the least to lose from England’s early departure from the tournament, most operators admitted trade would be down on the days England would have been playing had they progressed to the semi-finals and final.
Nevertheless, pubs in the capital tended to fare better from the Euro 2012 tournament as a result of fans from other countries heading to bars to watch the games.
“We have done amazingly well,” said Dave Evans, managing director of London-based Sports Bar & Grill. “The teams that are left in the running are probably some of the best supported in the tournament — they come in their droves.”
He added: “Thursday will be slightly down because it is Germany v Italy, but the Euro final will be a sell-out, whoever is playing. “It is going to be a glorious summer of sport.”
Richard Raven, marketing manager for Grand Union Bars, said: “We have done very well. The England games have been our main focus and the weather has also had an effect at a number of our venues with outside areas; the sunshine has brought the people out.
“There has certainly been an uplift and I think with Wimbledon and the general population of London, it will still be good this week.”
Nigel Wright, chief executive officer of managed pub and bar group TCG, said: “We’ve seen very high levels of trade for all four England games, and the quarter final against Italy was the best yet for many of our pubs.
“We hope that football fans will come out in good numbers this week for the semis and the final, but clearly it won’t be anything like the levels of trade we’d have seen if England were still in the running.”
Paul Wigham, chief executive of All Our Bars, which has pubs across the south of England, added: “Last Tuesday and Sunday were like a Friday and Saturday for us. It is definitely better having it (Euro 2012) than not having it.
“However, people have limited amounts of money to spend, and while we were up on this time last year, it has been a bit disappointing.”