The ongoing Six Nations rugby championship has proven a boon for local businesses, according to one Jesmond bar.

One member of staff at Spy Bar, located on Osborne Road, told JesmondLocal: “To an extent, our busyness correlates to whether the sport is on the TVs or not.”

Despite Spy being popular at other times of the day when sport may not be showing on the bar’s TV screens, when sport is on the number of patrons in the venue – and therefore the bar’s revenue – increases.

Spy Bar supervisor Matt Cadas said: “We have a large influx of societies, pub crawls, stag, hen dos, non-local groups of people and locals alike who fill the venue regularly, but there is a noticeable increase in the evenings when the sport is on the TVs.”

It’s not just the number of people in bars while sports are showing, but the time they spent in pubs and bars. Research by Budweiser Brewing Group shows that sports fans spend 90 minutes longer in watering holes than the average consumer. That makes them more likely to spend more on food and drink – and Budweiser claim 94% of them are likely to return to a business if they had a good time.

Increased spending can help offset the cost of acquiring the rights to broadcast live sports. The average pub or bar is charged around £20,000 per year for the rights to broadcast Premier League football, according to consultancy CGA Strategy. But that outlay is made up for by an average £34,000 increase in drink sales.

Patrons’ enjoyment can depend on a sense of community – something that watching sport on TVs provides. Academic research suggests that people who visit bars and pubs in small groups or alone start to connect with others watching alongside them as games progress.

TK explained that the different sporting competitions have different levels of impact on sales. “The Champions League, Premier League, international football competitions and Six Nations are our busiest sporting fixtures,” he said.

TK also said that sport can even have an influence on the marketing of products and promotions that the venue have at certain times. “The Six Nations, in particular, has been massively busy and we have created offers, bespoke food and drinks offers and events around these fixtures in order to maximise revenue,” he told JesmondLocal.