PUBS will suffer severe losses because of England’s failure to reach Euro 2008. English hearts were broken on Wednesday night as Croatia knocked England out of the championship with a 3-2 win at Wembley.
Steve McClaren’s men needed only a draw from the match to ensure qualification and despite England clawing their way back from being 2-0 down, Croatia scored the winner with 10 minutes to go.
Licensees were expecting bumper trade with England fans packing pubs during the summer tournament.
All now say the industry will be badly affected, but remain hopeful that people will watch the tournament anyway.
‘Our takings will be down a lot, there is no doubt about that,’ said Blind O’Reilly’s licensee Cyril Dunne. ‘We will also be affected by Ireland not being in the tournament. Both teams would have brought bodies into the pub, especially England. Considering the Premiership is supposed to be the best in the world, it doesn’t say much for it when none of the home countries went through.’
He said he would still be showing all the games during the month-long tournament. ‘We will still get people in, but nowhere near as many,’ he said.
White Hart manager Simon Allum was similarly downbeat. ‘It’s a huge blow to the economy in general,’ he said.
‘It’s a major disappointment, but we will think of something to stir up a summer of fun. There is still a major tournament going on and I think once people get used to the fact that England are not there, it will be OK. There are still a lot of great teams playing. I’m still positive it will be OK - I have to be.’
Pieces manager Steve Snell said pubs throughout the UK would be hit.
‘The revenue that is going to be lost with England not being there is huge,’ he said. ‘But the tournament is still a big deal, so I think people will still come and watch the good sides. England were just not good enough, so people will come and watch better teams and better football.
‘When Italy played France in the World Cup final, you could not move in the bar and England fans are used to being let down by their team.’
Article posted on 23rd November, 2007 - 12.00am
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