The winning combination of a summer heatwave and England’s best World Cup finish since Italia 1990 boosted the British economy by around £1 billion a day, according to research conducted by the Institute of Economic Affairs[1].
Final figures are still being drawn up, but early estimates suggest England’s historic run had a hugely positive impact on the country’s finances.
The service sector was the prime beneficiary of England’s success. In the lead-up to England’s quarter-final clash with Sweden, the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) said Brits’ extra spending on food and beverages, televisions, sportswear and entertainment could have hit £2.7 billion.
In the retail sector, Asda said sales of fruit ciders and lagers were up by more than 40% – while its total sales of beer throughout England’s campaign were enough to fill Wembley Stadium.
As for Britain’s wider economy, CityAM reported the UK GDP expanded by 0.2 per cent while the pound rose from a 2018 low to above $1.32[2] during England’s record-beating run.
The summer heatwave undoubtedly played its part, helping to thaw British spending after the Beast from the East froze spenders in their tracks[3] between February and March.
But by outperforming expectations, the English national team helped to create a spending boom across the services sector, with pubs, restaurants and retailers reaping the benefits of England’s success.
In a report on the impact of the World Cup, released earlier in the year, the CRR said: “Every goal scored by an England footballer would be worth £165.3 million to England’s retailers and an extra £33.2 million to pubs, hotels and restaurants.”
England ended up scoring a healthy 12 goals throughout the tournament, including six against Panama in a record-breaking group stage fixture. Pub chain Greene King told the BBC they sold half a million extra pints during that match[4].
All in all, the taxman is expected to take an extra £4.5 million from beer duties alone[5].
All this news has come as a nice surprise to everyone at the National Insurance Group, as it coincides with an important update to our Business Package – namely that we now include the pub, hotel and restaurant sector within this product.
Our Business Package wording is designed specifically for manufacturers, wholesalers and leisure trades with numerous policy extensions, and it can accommodate over 1,000 trades including pubs, restaurants and hotels.
It offers an introductory no claims discount available at new business and can write up to £5,000,000 per location in material damage. Plus, as well as a flexible range of covers, it includes engineering breakdown cover as standard, providing up to £250,000 for computer equipment, £15,000 for frozen or chilled foods and £5,000 for other perishable goods.
Click here to learn more about our Business Package.
The update to this product will come as great news to any broker insuring within the pub, hotel and restaurant sector. After the windfall this sector has received this summer, we expect to see several new or upgrading clients before the end of the year.
England may not have won the World Cup (this time), but the Three Lions certainly did their bit for the country in other ways – by filling up beer gardens and selling lots of barbecue food. We’ll hold out hope that a UK team can bring it home from Qatar. Until then, why not get in touch to learn more about our Business Package – and how it could help you.
[1] https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/983496/england-world-cup-economy-1billion-a-day
[2] Harris & J. Jolly, “Economy gets a summer bounce” in CityAM, Issue 3,159, 5 July 2018, p.1
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44711254
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/10/uk-economy-gets-kick-from-world-cup-heatwave
Follow NIG on LinkedIn