THOUSANDS of people across St Helens will join the nation in cheering on England's men's football team in tonight's European Championship final.
Supporters are expected to be glued to the TV screens in their homes and at pubs and bars.
Several venues will be showing the final against Spain on big screens, including the Citadel theatre on Waterloo Street, St Helens.
Meanwhile, Haydock Park Racecourse will be screening the final for crowds as part of a ticketed event, which has sold out.
Pubs and bars across England will be allowed to stay open until 1am on Monday morning, with many across the borough hopeful of benefiting from the excitement surrounding the final.
British Beer And Pub Association chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “On what promises to be a hugely exciting day for the country we expect an incredible 10 million extra pints to be poured in our pubs this Sunday to toast England’s Euros final.
“A huge £48 million in additional trade for pubs and breweries will be generated by fans across the nation.”
Trade body UK Hospitality said England’s performance in the tournament would see the entire sector benefiting from an overall sales increase of £800 million.
Supermarket chain Lidl said it anticipates that beer sales will increase by more than 35% due to the combination of sun and football, while Tesco expects to have sold four million packs of beer and cider over three days.
Aldi anticipates selling 37 beers every second in the lead-up to kick-off, saying it expects 3 million packs of crisps to fly off its shelves and pizza sales to jump 50%.
Meanwhile, airlines British Airways and Iberia announced that they will livestream the match to passengers during flights.
It is the first time the men’s side have reached a final outside England after playing the 1966 World Cup final and 2021 Euro final at Wembley.
The squad includes Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, who attended Rainhill High School, and Newcastle's Anthony Gordon, who studied at Carmel College,
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