Cup of cheer for 10,000 pubs

England fans will be able to get an early morning pint

At least 10,000 pubs are expected to serve alcohol to England fans for the World Cup opener against Sweden on Sunday.

A High Court ruling sparked a wave of applications to extend opening hours from pubs across the country.

Many pubs plan to open at 1000 BST, half an hour before the kick-off, but industry experts say some may start serving as early as 0900 BST.

The licence applications flooded in after the High Court effectively reversed a 24-year-old magistrates' ruling that watching football was not a "special occasion" which warranted an extension of opening hours.

Alcohol will flow as fans watch England take on Sweden

Rob Hayward, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said an "overwhelming majority" of applications had been granted.

"They are not only for England and Ireland matches but for many of the other nations' games as well," he said.

The High Court decision followed a challenge to the 1978 ruling by Bristol publican Martin Gough.

Lord Chief Justice Woolf said the World Cup had now become an occasion in which customers participated and that pubs should be allowed to open.

Mr Hayward said: "A number of magistrate benches held over applications until the ruling but there is no question that the overwhelming number of applications have now been granted."

Drink-drive fears

There are around 65,000 pubs and bars in the UK, of which about half have permanent television screens on which to watch the football.

One large chain, which did not want to be named, said a third of its pubs - about 1,000 - would be opening early on Sunday.

Fears that early morning drinking will cause a spate of road accidents has led the government to launch a nationwide advertising campaign on the perils of drink-driving.

It warns that on average 2,000 people are breathalysed each day and at all times during the day.