Football Fever Brings Young Fans Back to Pubs

So, we’ve just seen the end of another FIFA World Cup which, sadly, didn’t go in England’s favour. However, what we may have lacked in football prowess (or was it just bad luck?!), we made up for in spectating and, specifically, at pubs and bars.

Naturally at Fable we saw this as an opportunity to explore our extensive consumer spend data to understand the trends and nuances behind this increased footfall to hospitality venues. Moments like these offer valuable consumer insight not only for pub and bar owners themselves (for obvious product and stock strategy), but also for advertising and ad technology companies, helping them better understand customer behaviour and demographics to refine audience targeting and deliver more relevant promotional campaigns.

Fable’s consumer data provides a granular, daily updated view of how millions of people across the UK spend their money. With football capturing the nation’s attention, we analysed consumer spending on England’s recent matchdays to answer three simple questions:

Question 1: Are we more likely to go out to the pub on England match days? The answer to this may be obvious but read on for the interesting part…

Question 2: What are the profiles of these football fanatic pub-goers? How old are they? Where in the country are they?

Question 3: What can we do with this insight and why is it useful? Use cases extend beyond pubs and bars themselves; think advertising and campaign targeting.

Answer 1: Pubs benefit from more customers and spend on match days, especially when matches fall on a weekday:

Customer volume and spend data clearly indicates that pubs and bars became much busier on England match days. Compared with similar weekdays without a match, England match days consistently attracted more visitors and generated higher overall spending. The same was true of Saturday matches but to a lesser degree given already-elevated attendance and spend on Saturdays.

Answer 2: Despite recent claims that younger generations are drinking less, it’s the Gen Z’s and Millennials who dominate local pubs on match days, especially in London and the East.

Weekday matches encouraged a noticeably younger audience with more Gen Z and younger Millennial fans heading to pubs and bars to watch. For match days that fell on a Tuesday and Wednesday, there was an uplift in the share of pub/bar visitors under 39 years old, with the “20-29” age group gaining the most (roughly, +9-10% of share). In addition to attracting younger audiences, England matches also attracted people around the country, with a particular overweighting to London (+7%) and the East of England (+6%)

Answer 3: Not only can the hospitality industry benefit but advertisers can use this insight to their advantage – serving targeted ads at opportune moments to the football fan audience.

Advertisers can adjust their targeting around England match times to reach younger audiences when they’re more likely to be in pubs and bars. By serving ads targeted to this age group during these periods, brands have a better chance of connecting with Gen Z and younger Millennials at the right time, thus increasing campaign relevance and effectiveness.

Not only does the data show that England matches attract more people and more spend at pubs and bars (in particular on weekdays), but there are notable age biases and regional differences within this trend. At a basic level the hospitality industry can take this insight themselves to increase efficiency – plan stock, product mix and staffing accordingly – but advertisers and ad technology companies can also benefit. By gaining an understanding of consumer behaviour – who they are, how much they’re spending, when and where – they can refine audience targeting and inform advertising placement strategy. Exploring cross shopping behaviours (where else these pub-going football fans also like to spend their money) would allow for even more intelligent targeting for advertisers and could inform loyalty strategies for brands.

Final thoughts

The increase in pub and bar spending during the 2026 World Cup isn’t a one-time phenomenon. We saw the same happen in the Euros 2024; it reflects a recurring consumer habit that we can expect to repeat during future major tournaments. The opportunity extends further than simply preparing the hospitality industry for an influx in customers. The next step is to understand what drives this audience and how best to engage them through relevant messaging and offers.

Fable’s debit and credit card spend data can provide valuable intelligence into consumer spending behaviours, with granular insight on demographics, merchant locations, market competitors and more. If you would like to learn more about how Fable’s dataset can be used in audience analysis and spending evaluation, please get in touch: info@fabledata.com