Pubs and the 1966 football World Cup

Sixty years ago England was hosting the football World Cup and pubs were very much part of the story. In 2026, it’s quite normal for pubs to have television screens and for people to gather there to watch big football matches together. Last night, even our local craft beer taproom was rearranged to accommodate an enormous screen. Back in 1966, though, the idea of TVs in pubs was fairly new, and pubs with TVs were relatively unusual. As a result, one story at the time was about how the tournament was causing pubs to lose business. In their column for the Shropshire Star for Friday 29 July 1966 Robin Stretton wrote: Whatever one may feel about the blanket television coverage of the World Cup matches, the guild of ‘Ladies for Temperance’ should be pretty well delighted. Not for years have the pubs been so empty… Between the hours of seven and nine last Tuesday most barmaids could have gone to China without being missed… The licensee of my own local has reached a new low in bar takings…