Anyone who’s been lucky enough to spend a match day in the city centre could probably tell you this, but now it’s official.
Manchester has been named the best place in the UK to watch Euro 2020.
After a year of postponement due to the pandemic, European football’s flagship tournament finally kicked off last month with 24 countries going head to head in a battle to take home the coveted trophy – and now, nearly four weeks later, just three teams remain.
Italy booked their spot in Sunday’s final after beating Spain in a close call that went all the way to penalties last night, and this evening, England look to do the same.
All eyes will be on Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad at 8pm as they take on Denmark in the second semi-final at Wembley.
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But until that result’s decided, Manchester has claimed a victory of its own.
Thanks to timely research led by mobile reseller Buymobiles, 28 of the UK’s major cities have been ranked based on a number of different factors, including the average cost of a pint, venue ratings, and a ‘footy-mad’ score determined by Google Trends – and Manchester has unsurprisingly clinched the top spot.
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Top 10 Places to Watch Euro 2020 in the UK
Manchester
Liverpool
Edinburgh
Newcastle
Glasgow
Leeds
Belfast
Southampton
Aberdeen
Sheffield
28 of the UK’s major cities have been ranked based on a number of different factors / Credit: Buymobiles
Overall, the North West proved to the best region to watch this summer’s championships, with Liverpool taking the second spot just behind Manchester.
Scotland also proved extremely successful based on the metrics measured, boasting two cities in the top five and three in the top ten, and with Newcastle, Leeds, Belfast, Southampton and Sheffield all making up the rest of the top ten, there seems to be quite an even split geographically throughout the UK, which means you’re never too far away from a great Euro 2020 experience.
But if there’s anywhere you’d want to be, it’s in Manchester.
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Manchester is a city that’s obsessed with football and it’s a sport that’s so ingrained in our culture, so it’s not hard to see why we’ve taken this title.
As you’d expect, there’s plenty of venues that have been going all out for the Euros this year.
There’s plenty of venues that have been going all out for the Euros this year / Credit: Oast House | Euro 2020
The semi-finals and grand finale of Euro 2020 may be being held at English football’s home ground of Wembley Stadium in London, but if you’re not able to make the trip down south, there’s certainly no shortage of pubs and bars in Manchester city centre that are putting on a good show.
Whether England make it to their first final of a major tournament since 1966, or they bow out at the final hurdle, you won’t want to miss Euro 2020 drawing to a close.
Looking for somewhere to cheer on the Three Lions last minute?
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We’ve picked out 20 of the best spots to watch Euro 2020 in Manchester city centre here.
Featured Image – 4theFans
UK News
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK
Danny Jones
Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?
Emily Sergeant -
7th July 2021 
