As football fans across the country commiserate following England’s defeat against what were clearly the best side in the tournament by a country mile, in the Euros 2024 final, all is not lost. The following report provides some crumbs of comfort in how the Three Lions efforts had a significant effect on parts of the UK economy.
Hospitality
It seems that the dark COVID months, where pubs and bars were still off limits, haven’t easily been forgotten as fans took the opportunity to purchase an estimated extra 20 million pints over the four week tournament. According to the British Beer & Pub Association, pubs across the UK are expected to bring in £94 million thanks to the tournament. The hospitality sector is set to score big too, with an estimated boost of over £600 million.
According to UK Hospitality and data collated by CGA’s Trading Index, England’s group against Slovenia saw a 33 per cent upside in pub and bar sales. Additionally, fixtures against Denmark, Serbia and Slovakia delivered a 28 per cent, 12 per cent and 11 per cent sales boost respectively. Perhaps the quality of the football wasn’t always easy on the eye, explaining some of the tail off, but the final was always going to be the sweet taste of icing on the proverbial cake.
The drinks tracker also showed that average sales in managed venues in the seven days up to 29 June were 6 per cent ahead of the same period in 2023.
Hospitality also saw a significant increase in bookings. In fact, after England’s game against Netherlands, booking and enquiry management software Access Collins, reported a peak of 16 bookings per second, with the majority of these taking place the moment Ollie Watkins scored, during the ad breaks and again after the final whistle signaling England’s progression to the final.
This is compared to 11 bookings per second after the Three Lions’ quarter final win against Switzerland on July 6, highlighting a 45 per cent increased interest in the public to venture out of home for the final on July 14.
Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer And Pub Association hailed the boost.
She said: “We expect an incredible eight million extra pints to be poured in our pubs during England’s semi-final against the Netherlands.
“This amounts to an amazing £40 million in additional trade for pubs and breweries.”
Retail
When it comes to retail spending for home consumption, The British Retail Consortium’ survey also found that people were more than willing to part with their hard earned cash for the beautiful game.
The polling found that 13 percent of people planned to spend more on groceries, beer, wine and spirits, as well as takeaways, while watching the Euros. Additionally, 9 percent planned to host or attend gatherings to watch the games, 6 percent were considering investing in buying a new television or other device, while 4 percent expected to purchase official merchandise. Putting it simply, it was projected that in the UK alone, consumer spending would be boosted to £2.75bn, with half of that amount allocated to food and drink. This marks a £0.5bn, or 31 percent increase on the 2022 World Cup.
With regards to merchandise, a spokesperson for JD Sports said: “Sales of England kits have soared, both in our stores and online during the Euros, with supporters fully behind the team’s campaign to ‘bring it home’ on Sunday.
“JD’s England merchandise sales skyrocketed more than six-fold for last night’s epic semi-final win against the Netherlands – having already jumped by almost three times around the dramatic victory on penalties against Switzerland in the quarter final.”
Research carried out for BoohooMan also showed Google searches for England shirts rose 2,470% following England’s win against Holland. The spike was recorded by Google Trends at 10pm, as the game drew to a close. That means the relative popularity of England shirts increased 25-fold on Google Trends this week, since England’s semi-final win against Switzerland.
It’s clear that the love of the national game has had a positive impact on UK spending and it is interesting to see just how much large sporting events can influence a broader economic impact across the UK. Looking towards the Olympics which opens later this month, the UK is well placed to continue a strong return on the “summer of sport” ahead of us. By encouraging consumer spending against a celebratory backdrop (simply in getting to the final alone) we’re optimistic that this will act as more than just a shot in the arm for the UK economy going forward.
