The crucial role of the built environment in England's Euro success

Ahead of the much-anticipated Euro 2024 opener tonight, we look at how the urban environment plays a crucial role in helping to create a carnival atmosphere, willing the Three Lions to end 58 years of hurt!

On 11 July 2018, with the sun shining, pubs packed to the brim, supermarkets selling out of drinks and snacks, and large screens adorning many public spaces across the UK…England agonisingly fell short on the night.

And then history painfully repeated itself again on 11 July 2021. Despite the best efforts of the Three Lions, England has sadly not quite made the pinnacle of either European or World Football.

Aside from this bitter disappointment, there is something else that the British public has come to share during these key times of international sport; an appreciation of the urban environment that brings us together in one place to share both the highs and the lows.

Whether this be supporters cramming into any pub they can find or large screen initiatives in public realm destinations, we do have a fantastic way of transforming our infrastructure to create spaces dedicated to celebrating our sporting heroes.

Vendors that stand to benefit this summer will be the pubs, bars and restaurants, but numerous other community locations will also be packed to the brim with chanting fans.

Famously, Box Park facilities across the UK have celebrated the beginning of sporting tournaments, especially both the male and female World Cups and the Euros. BoxPark Croydon – next to our recently instructed 2 Ruskin Square – has already nearly sold out of General Admission tickets for England’s night-time opener against Serbia on Sunday 16 of June.

Leaping on the prospect of capturing the increased footfall and spend generated by the tournament, many leisure venues are also shifting their focus for key matches. Take rooftop bars like The Manor at the Hale Leys Shopping Centre in Aylesbury – where we are also instructed – which will be hosting big screens on the terrace… and hoping for a bit of sunshine to help the festivities! South London’s food and locally brewed beer market, Pop Brixton, will also play host to a fanzone which is expected to be rocking throughout the tournament, and Bristol music venue SWX will be repurposed into a key destination to watch the sporting drama unfold.

But it’s not just retail and leisure venues undergoing a sporting transformation. Public spaces like Newcastle Central Park and Leeds Millenium Square will also become buzzing fanzones where post-match the celebrations are likely to then spill out into nearby leisure destinations, creating a very beneficial ripple effect of trade.

In terms of actual retail capital, when Gareth’s men nearly brought it home in 2018, food and drink sales in the 12 weeks to 15 July rose by 3.6%. Aside from Christmas and Easter, the week England played Colombia and Sweden saw more spent on alcohol than ever before, at ￡287m.

We expect to see very similar levels of consumer spending this summer, especially if Harry Kane and co. can take us all the way to the Olympiastadion in Berlin on the 14 of July!

Tell us, where and how will you be watching this year?