A British bar won a court battle today to serve early-morning pints of beer to English soccer fans as they watch the World Cup finals on television in May and June.
The victory by Martin Gough, who runs the White Hart pub in the south-west city of Bristol, paves the way for bars across the country to open their doors for breakfast, beer and football.
Gough had appealed against a decision by local magistrates who indicated they were willing to allow him to open but said previous High Court rulings prevented them from doing so.
"We are absolutely delighted with the decision," Gough told reporters outside the High Court. "It's what the British public wanted. It's what the licencees wanted. We are delighted in industry terms that we are moving towards the 21st century."
Because of the time difference to joint hosts Japan and South Korea, many World Cup games will be played during the morning in Britain.
In 1978 the High Court ruled that pubs should only open at unusual hours if their clients were participating in a special event justifying the extension.
Watching soccer on television had previously not qualified as "active soccer participation".
But Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf told the court that clients watching soccer on television in a pub were participating in a special event, meaning that the premises should be allowed to open at unusual hours.
"In my judgment the way competitions of this sort are watched by those attending pubs to do so at the present time is quite different from the way it was at the time of the earlier decisions," he said.
"If one were to ask anyone today whether the World Cup was a national special event I apprehend that the reaction would be immediate, that it was."
The British Beer and Pub Association is hoping that more courts will grant licenses now the Bristol case is won. The World Cup finals take place on May 31st-June 30th.