Employers should brace for pub exodus during European Championships

The pubco's Leisure Tracker found that over a third over British football fans plan to watch at least one game of the European Championship in the pub. Younger fans are almost twice as likely to watch the games in the pub, with 60% of 18-24 year olds intending to experience the highs and inevitable lows of watching the national side with friends in the pub.

But they won't necessarily be heading to their local. More than a third of respondents said atmosphere trumped location in decision-making. It also outweighed quality of viewing, cost and variety of food and drink on offer.

Greene King said a number of respondents wanted employers to let them watch games during work hours. For the England v Wales match, more than double the number of respondents plan to watch the game in the pub than at work, suggesting employers should plan for that eventuality now.

Across the broader market, the Leisure Tracker recorded a 5% decrease on monthly household out of home leisure spend during April, due to Easter boosting spend in the previous month.

Overall spend year-on-year fell 4%, although drinking out spend maintained current levels and eating out spend increased 2%, suggesting that the market remains buoyant.

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