World Cup 2022: Landlady of popular pub in Northampton reveals why boozers may be quiet for the football this Christmas

A landlady of a popular pub in Northampton has revealed why boozers in the town might be quiet for the 2022 FIFA World Cup this Christmas.

Many pubs in Northampton were quiet for England's latest World Cup game against Senegal, which The Three Lions won 3-0 to set up a huge game against France this Saturday night (December 10).

Miranda Richardson, manager at The Squirrels in Duston village, believes pub goers are 'quite rightly' watching where they spend their money as Christmas approaches during a cost of living crisis.

The landlady said: "We have a Greene King group chat for the other chains across the country and my boss asked us this morning, 'how were everyone's weekends, the sales look a bit flat.' We all said the same thing: the boxing [Tyson Fury fight] was on Saturday, the football was on Sunday, and it's Christmas.

"You've got a Sunday night game, people are back at work Monday, they can't afford to have a day off. It's not a massively important game in the grand scheme of things.

"No sooner than the game finished people left. England got the result, they got the win and people were off.

"I had around 60 in total watching, not bad numbers but it wasn't as busy as the Friday night game [vs the USA]. Again, it was a Friday night, people didn't have to get up for work on Saturday morning."

Miranda added that other landlords have said that 'people are definitely been watching their money now, with shopping on top of everything else'.

The World Cup is usually held during the British Summer Time, but this year it is being held in the winter due to it being in Qatar, which has played a factor in people going to pubs, Miranda said.

The pub boss said: "It's cold. It's not summer where you can have one pint and nurse it outside in the garden in the sun for hours.

"It is a tough time of the year, and a tough time generally and you've got people thinking, 'I've got to buy Christmas presents in the next few weeks' and so is a World Cup football match really a priority to spend £20 on when you could get presents for someone in the family? I think that's where people are at at the moment.

"It's nowhere near as busy as a summer World Cup, nowhere near. But what you're up against now is people with bars at home, so actually had it been a summer World Cup we still might not have done a lot of trade."

However, the landlady is looking forward to the England vs France quarter-final this weekend, which should bring in the numbers.

Miranda said: "I think Saturday will be mental [vs France], we've got a band on straight after as well cause, you know, I don't believe in doing anything by halves. That will be, 'win or lose we'll just enjoy it' kind of vibe."