𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Pubs across the country are set to pour an additional six million pints this Wednesday as England faces Argentina in the World Cup semi-final.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) estimates this surge represents a 75 per cent increase on the eight million pints typically sold on an average July Wednesday.

BBPS chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “Thanks to the World Cup, we’ve seen millions of extra pints sold off the back of home nations matches.

“Given the nail-biting stakes, we expect Wednesday to be the most successful night of the tournament, with more than six million extra pints potentially sold – which is a bigger boost than we’d normally see on a bank holiday or New Year’s Eve.”

Data from Barclays, which sees 40 per cent of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, shows England’s World Cup matches have already provided UK pubs and bars with a major boost, helped by extended opening hours, with transactions tripling when England beat Mexico on Monday, 6 July.

Transactions reached a year-to-date-high on Saturday 27 June when England faced Panama, marking a 399 per cent increase in comparison to this year’s daily average.

Combined figures for Sunday 5 July 5 and Monday 6 July, when the England-Mexico kick-off was delayed until 2am UK time due to the weather, payments tripled, up 201.5 per cent year-on-year.

This comes despite half (47 per cent) of those tuning into the World Cup saying they are watching more matches at home than they normally would, due to late kick-off times, a survey for the bank found.

Rich Robinson, head of hospitality and leisure at Barclays, said: “Every win for England is a win for UK pubs, and the World Cup has already provided the industry with a major boost, encouraging midweek and late-night spending.”

Thomas Tuchel’s side are aiming to reach the World Cup final for just the second time in their history, and standing in the way is one of their biggest rivals.

From Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ to David Beckham’s redemption arc, England versus Argentina is a fixture that has defined English football for the last 40 years.

Lionel Scaloni’s men are the defending champions and have an inspired Lionel Messi, who is going out in style in what will surely be his final World Cup, having scored eight goals.

But their journey to the last four has been fraught as they have needed extra time to beat minnows Cape Verde and 10-man Switzerland, while also staging a miraculous recovery to beat Egypt 3-2 in the final 15 minutes.

Asked if he has any sense how excited people are at home to be a match away from a first men’s World Cup final since triumphing in 1966, he said: “No, but I think that’s essentially what a World Cup is for.

“To excite the country, to excite fans and to transmit energy and make people forget their worries, make people’s lives better for 90, 120 minutes, and be just combined and be united and represented by a team.

“There’s so much to love about this England squad and our team that I’m very glad that that that people feel it.

“A burden? No, I don’t feel a burden. I mean, we feel the tension and I will be nervous, and of course that is that is normal.

“But I feel no burden. I feel what I really like is what I feel in the last days that the players are very, very competitive.

“They are very excited and like I said, they are hungry to play this match.

“I mean the two shirts are just iconic, the historic matches are iconic. There are iconic moments, but everyone recognises this shirt straight away, everyone recognises the players straightaway.

“So, it is the absolute beauty in the magnitude of a match, in the magnitude of an occasion.

“But, me personally, I don’t feel it as a burden. I will feel the nerves and the tension. That is that is quite normal, but that just comes normal with these matches.”