Fans hoping to watch England and Scotland's FIFA World Cup 2026 matches at a pub in the United Kingdom are facing an upfront £5 deposit per person, imposed by pub giant Greene King across its venues.

The charge, which applies at Greene King's approximately 2,600 UK pubs, is triggered by national team fixtures — meaning England supporters at English venues and Scotland supporters at Scottish venues are subject to the fee whenever their side plays.

How the deposit works

The £5 per person payment is fully redeemable against food or drink orders, so fans who show up and spend money at the bar will not lose out. However, the deposit is non-refundable if a booking is cancelled with less than 72 hours' notice.

Fans who arrive more than 15 minutes late also forfeit both their deposit and their reserved table — a strict policy designed to prevent no-shows on high-demand matchdays.

Greene King normally reserves deposit schemes for Christmas Day bookings. The World Cup has pushed the chain to extend the practice across the tournament.

Record bookings despite the fee

The policy has not deterred supporters. According to The British Guild of Beer Writers, England's opening group fixture against Croatia on Wednesday, 17 June produced 5,600 bookings across Greene King's managed pubs — a record for a single match and higher than the chain's booking figures for England's first UEFA Euro 2024 game against Serbia.

In total, Greene King's managed pubs have logged bookings for 65,000 covers across this summer's international football fixtures. Even Scotland's opening game against Haiti — which kicked off at 2am local time — saw nearly 20 pubs in Scotland reach full seated capacity.

Greene King's response