Liv Higson explains why the pubs who are actively NOT showing the England matches are making the smartest decision, and why they might be the real winners in the end.
Every 4 years, the same thing happens. Pubs up and down the country wheel out extra screens, rearrange the furniture, and brace themselves for a fortnight of It’s Coming Home, spilled pints, inevitable broken English hearts (this year will be different, it really is coming home) and a very different atmosphere to what they usually offer.
And I get it. In this economy, who can blame them for wanting a slice of the extra revenue? Times are unbelievably tough to run a pub right now; football brings footfall, footfall brings sales, and margins are tight enough as it is.
But in the past few weeks, some pubs have caught my attention: a growing number of pubs are doing the opposite. Many are actually announcing that they won’t be showing the football at all, and using it as a marketing tool.
And I’m not writing this because I’m one of those anti-football people (no offence if you’re in this camp), in fact I’m one of those unbearable people who’s been saying It’s Coming Home every day for the past 2 weeks.
But when it comes to pubs not showing the matches throughout the world cup I’d argue it’s one of the savviest decisions a pub can make.
Pubs are sacred
I’ve done a lot of work in the pub industry and I frequently hear the same thing: customers pick specific pubs for specific reasons. The countryside pub with the roaring fire and dog bowls by the door isn’t competing with the sports bar down the road. Families choose it because it feels safe, calm, and reliable for a Sunday roast. Walkers choose it because after two hours with a muddy Labrador, they want a quiet pint, not a chorus of Vindaloo.
Customers want pubs to be the pubs they know and always have known.
They want to sit next to Keith and Janet in the same seat they always sit in, to talk about the same things they always talk about, ordering the same pint they always have. Unless they’re going down to the Horse & Jockey for a carvery, in which case it’s all the meats and all the trimmings, extra gravy thanks… Every Sunday.
Fundamentally, we don’t like change, especially when it comes to our pubs.
Screens that don’t usually exist are a promise broken, not a promise kept
Picture it: you walk into your usual spot for a peaceful dinner with the kids, and suddenly there are screens where there weren’t screens last week, strangers standing crowding round the bar, and a pint sailing past your shoulder because Kane’s just scored a worldy. Even if it’s “only for a few weeks,” that’s a few weeks where your pub suddenly doesn’t feel like your pub.
Customers don’t compartmentalise “temporary football pub” and “usual quiet family meal pub” as separate identities. They just remember that the place changed on them – and wonder if it might change again.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are pubs who don’t usually show football who can make it work. A small local with dedicated punters who would all want to share the World Cup experience, and where the screens aren’t going to massively disrupt the status quo – it seems like the obvious thing to do, plus you hopefully get a bit of a cash injection for a month – and we all know pubs could certainly do with that.
Saying “no thanks” to short-term revenue is a long-term business strategy
But in the most part, pubs holding firm and saying “we won’t be showing the football” aren’t missing an opportunity. They’re doing something much harder and much smarter: keeping the promise they make to their regulars 50 weeks of the year, even when there’s cash on the table to break it.
I’d say it’s pretty ballsy, but it also shows they know their customer, something that I certainly am a HUGE fan of.
So here’s to the landlords and landladies staying true to what makes their pub their pub. It might cost them a busy fortnight – but it’s exactly the kind of quiet confidence and trust in their brand that keeps customers coming back for the other fifty weeks of the year, and I personally LOVE to see it.
Staying true to your brand is essential, and something that relies heavily on insight. Knowing your customer, and the landscape you operate in is essential across industries.
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