How to make the most of the upcoming Lions’ tour
The Lions rotate tours around the big three southern hemisphere rugby union nations: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. These tours take place once every four years, and as well as the quality of rugby on show, it is perhaps their rarity that makes them such a highly watched event.
Because the Lions are made up of members from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, the UK joins collectively to support the team. This means that pubs up and down the country can take advantage of the tour.
Although the likelihood of a positive result might not seem promising (the 11 previous tours to New Zealand have resulted in just one win for the Lions), support for our boys will be out in full force.
But wait, the games start at 8:35am GMT!
Early wake-up call
You’re right, opening before 9am probably isn’t all too common in the industry. But on occasions such as this, it becomes a must, especially when the demand is there.
On the Lions’ last tour, there were 900,000 out-of-home viewers for the first test match. All of the games will be shown on Sky, so it’s an opportunity to reach out to those who only have terrestrial TV at home.
Lions’ fixtures:
June 3 v Provincial Union
June 7 v Blues
June 10 v Crusaders
June 13 v Highlanders
June 17 v Maori All Blacks
June 20 v Chiefs
June 24 v All Blacks
June 27 v Hurricanes
July 1 v All Blacks
July 8 v All Blacks
The Lions will be playing a total of ten games, including seven warm up matches. The matches that will attract the biggest crowd will, of course, be the three test matches against the All Blacks.
Ideas for game day
Although the games are on early in the morning, the good news is that all of the test matches are on Saturdays, meaning that, on the majority, you won’t be battling with work schedules as well.
Seeing as it’s early in the morning an extensive breakfast menu can be all it takes to get people through the door. You may not usually serve breakfasts but given the time of the matches, this is an important addition to make extra money from. These menus could also be themed to add to the occasion.
Unfortunately, not everyone is a morning person and many may opt to watch a rerun later in the day. In the modern day it can be near enough impossible to get around without hearing the results but if you make visitors aware, they can try to get by without hearing the score – doing so will create a similar match time buzz when you screen a rerun.
By cleverly timing screening the match at intervals throughout the day, you can coincide viewings with other food and drink times. Be sure to create designated rugby zones to make sure you don't alienate your other customers who aren’t as passionate about rugby.
Whatever your plans are, make sure you advertise them. Locals won’t necessarily expect pubs and bars to be opening early to show the tour so it’s imperative to spread awareness of your plans.
Bar furniture
If you are expecting plenty of visitors to turn up to watch the tour, having enough seating in place can make your venue more welcoming.
Temporary, stackable banquet chairs can be useful for this tour specifically and are something that can be useful to have for future sporting events too. Browse our range of stackable chairs, perfect for storing away, here.