![\"Football](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1_BRI_PG_010726worldcup-241.jpg\")
<\/p>\n‘We\u2019re expecting it to be busy’<\/p>\n
Football fans react to England v DR Congo – people are hoping their locals will be able to open in the early hours of Monday(Image: Reach Plc)<\/p>\n
Landlords in Bristol are weighing up whether – and how – to open up for the England game in the World Cup on Sunday night, after the Government announced that previous licensing restrictions were being dropped on the eve of the big game.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Bristol Live reported that pub landlords<\/a> who had prepared in advance for the prospect of England playing a last 16 game in the World Cup which would kick off at 1am on a Monday morning, were able to open because they had got a special event licence request in early.<\/p>\n But the landlords of other pubs and clubs were complaining<\/a> that they had been told they needed ten days\u2019 notice to get a \u2018TEN\u2019 – a temporary events notice – to be able to stay open for the game in the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s announcement that the Government<\/a> would be using a \u2018Statutory Instrument\u2019 in Parliament that relaxed the rules around pubs staying open late into Sunday night now means landlords across Bristol are deciding whether they will be opening for the match, and how to do that if they choose to.<\/p>\n Pubs we know are staying open to show the match<\/strong><\/p>\n Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: \u201cFootball might be coming home but we\u2019re making sure fans don\u2019t have to. Pubs staying open till the final whistle is good news for supporters and good news for the pubs and venues that bring our communities together.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole country will be backing the team. Come on England!\u201d he added.<\/p>\n But staying open late into Monday morning presents challenges for pub landlords – the main one being finding staff willing to work until 5am, and also not knowing exactly how much of an appetite there will be among England fans to go out and watch the game in a pub in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n Greene King said around 600 of its 2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels would be staying open for the game, but Wetherspoons said only five of its 800 pubs<\/a> would be showing the match.<\/p>\n In Bristol, some pubs – like the Rising Sun in Ashton, the May Tree in Headley Park and the New Inn at Keynsham – already paid for the licences and had plans in place to stay open.<\/p>\n\n
![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_BRI_PG_170626world_cup-78.jpg\")
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