Early rugby risers

As the ninth Rugby World Cup 2019 kicks off in Japan on Saturday, pubs across the country gear themselves up for six weeks of rugby action, celebrating every try and lamenting every conceded penalty, together with their rugby fan locals. Whether you choose to watch each England match in the same pub down the road as you always have, or you dash into an unfamiliar bar on your way through town to snatch a few minutes of the second half, when England play, we are all locals rooting for the home team and will be welcomed in with open arms. Metropolitan pubs are no exception.

Our pubs will open their doors in time for you to catch the major matches, taking place slightly earlier than we’re all used to due to Japan hosting this year’s Rugby World Cup. We are prepared, however, and will ensure that no one needs to watch the match on an empty stomach. Our food team has been hard at work creating an appropriately heavy-hitting breakfast burger – meat-loving and veg-leaning both catered for – to be partnered with a beverage, the alcoholic content of which is down to the hardiness of the individual early-morning consumer.

If the right place to watch England storm to victory – note the traditional British optimism here – isn’t in the pub, where you’re one of the locals and can enjoy hot food and cold beer, we don’t know where is.