TWO supermarket chains have confirmed major changes to their opening hours after England reached the final of Euro 2024.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s will shut their doors early to allow employees to watch the final involving the Three Lions.
Gareth Southgate’s men will face favourites Spain in Berlin on Sunday night — just one match from ending an agonising 58-year trophy drought.
The pair of supermarket giants confirmed they would shut up shop earlier with more than 1,800 Tesco Express chains set to shut at 7.30pm.
Tesco said the move would let thousands of colleagues get home or to the pub in time for kick-off, while still receiving their normal pay for those hours.
Those employees who do not want to watch the match will be also paid as normal.
Sainsburys have also confirmed their smaller chains will shut at 7.30pm.
In a tweet, the company said: “It’s coming home and so are we…
“To allow our colleagues time to enjoy the game, Locals and petrol stations across England will be closing early at 7:30pm on Sunday 14th July.
“Come on England.”
As the match is being held on a Sunday, most larger stores will already be closed by kick off.
All stores will open as normal in the morning at 6am or 7am.
Before the England win on Wednesday, Tesco’s managing director of UK stores, Kevin Tindall, said: “We will be cheering on the Three Lions tonight against the Netherlands and hope they reach a second successive Euros final.
“We appreciate just how much this would mean to so many of our colleagues, and we want them to be able to celebrate with their family and friends.
“So, if we make it through to the final, we will close our stores across England in time for them to get behind Gareth Southgate and the team, and we’ll all be hoping that football will be coming home.”
Stores in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will continue to remain open with their usual hours.
England fans are now gearing up to roar the Three Lions to a sensational Euros victory this weekend and end 58 years of hurt after Wednesday’s stunning win.
England will face Spain in Berlin at 8pm on Sunday.
Victory in the final would see them become the first England men’s team to win a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup.
THE Euro 2024 final will take place on Sunday, July 14.
Kick-off will be at 8pm BST and The Olympiastadion in Berlin will host.
The Euro 2024 final will be broadcast live on both BBC One and ITV1.
All of the games at the European Championships have been aired on either BBC or ITV during the tournament.
You will be able to live stream the final for FREE on either BBC iPlayer or ITVX.
Alternatively, you can keep up to date with all the action by following SunSport’s live blog.
It comes after the Government said pubs can stay open until 1am for the game on the weekend.
Bear in mind though, that demand for tables will be extremely high so you should get your booking in early.
The majority of chains have procedures in place for the big match – so it’s not as easy to secure a table as it usually is.
Make sure you check ahead, if you can, to avoid disappointment.
It’s not the first time supermarkets have changed their open hours to allow staff to watch England in a major tournament.
In 2021, Tesco, Lidl and Iceland all made changes to allow their staff to watch England face Italy at Wembley in the final of Euro 2020.
Tesco shut its Express stores at 7:45pm to give staff enough time to get to the pub to catch kick off.
Co-op closed over 2,000 convenience stores and fuel stations early so its staff could watch the match.
While Iceland opened its stores an hour later the following day to give customers and staff more time in bed.
If you want to help the England team to Euro 2024 glory... here's your chance.
On Sunday they will face Spain in the biggest game of their lives and we are giving YOU and your children the opportunity to send messages of support.
Tell us who your favourite player is, tell us how you plan to watch them and send us pictures of your little ones in their England kit helping the Three Lions get to glory.
To send our boys – including manager Gareth Southgate, captain Harry Kane, goalie Jordan Pickford and our goal-scoring genius Ollie Watkins – a message and photo simply sundayfeatures@the-sun.co.uk. Please send us your phone number too so we can get in touch.
