A Boston bar owner who believed the venue was ready for the World Cup rush says Scottish supporters ended up drinking the place nearly dry.
Noelle Somers, chief operating officer at Hennessy’s Bar in downtown Boston, has spent close to two hectic weeks dealing with an overwhelming influx of football fans after the Scots arrived in the city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Scotland are playing in their first World Cup since 1998, and their presence has brought a festival atmosphere to the Boston area.
Steve Clarke’s team opened their campaign against Haiti and then faced Morocco at Boston Stadium, the temporary FIFA name for Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
That schedule has helped turn greater Boston into a temporary base for thousands of Scotland fans over the last week and a half, giving businesses across the region a major lift.
Even though the bar had planned for heavier footfall during the tournament, Somers said the scale of it still caught them off guard.
“We had run out of a lot of beer come Sunday night (14 June),” she explained.
“We had to change our our delivery strategy for the following week. I think all bars in Boston did that where we were getting deliveries every day last week.”
Somers said she did not have a precise total for how many beers Hennessy’s has sold, but admitted it was far beyond what the bar would normally expect even on one of its busiest annual dates.
“it’s triple the amount that we would usually do on like our huge day like St Patrick’s Day.”
The pub owner added:
“Everything has surprised us about this. We thought we were prepared.
“The amount amount of fans that traveled from Scotland to come over has been unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
England are the next team due in the city, with the Three Lions set to face Ghana in Boston on Tuesday, June 23. To avoid another beer shortage, Somers said the bar is increasing both orders and stock levels.
With the city also due to host a World Cup quarter-final later in the tournament, the demanding shifts are expected to continue for some time. Even so, Somers said the tournament is proving to be a huge positive for Boston.
She added:
“For our street in Boston and for everyone I just feel like everyone is just surprised by the boost.”
Somers also said there has been a strong sense of community around the crowds, explaining that the Scots ’embraced us as much as we embrace them’.
She went on to say Scotland’s now-famous ‘no Scotland, no party’ chant has become a ‘phenomenon across the state’, while also crediting World Cup supporters for bringing ‘kindness’ and ‘energy’ to Boston.
It certainly is the beautiful game…