The Londoner pub opens in Arlington with World Cup watch parties – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

The Tate family moved to North Texas from England and opened their first pub in Dallas in the early 1990s on Greenville Avenue.

They now own The Londoner, which has locations in Addison, Colleyville, and Dallas, showing European soccer. Their newest pub is opening on Collins Street in Arlington, Saturday, June 13. The Dallas location opened in 2022, just days before the last FIFA World Cup. The Addison location was named “Best Premier League Bar in America” by NBC Sports in 2016. Results were based on a judges’ panel, social media, and reviewed Londoner promotions. The prize was $50,000. Dallas was ranked as a top 10 Premier League market at the time.

NBC 5 spoke to Charlotte Tate about the work to open a new pub.

“We’re down to the wire trying to get it done, and I think this is going to be a really popular, important space for international fans to have close to the stadium. I don’t think there’s anything like it over here.” Tate said. “To me, there’s nothing like it, and I really think it fills a void over here, especially for international and soccer fans.”

The Londoner will host watch parties throughout the World Cup, especially when England faces Croatia on June 17 at AT&T Stadium (Dallas Stadium). It’s a rematch of the 2018 World Cup semi-final when Croatia beat England 2-1 in overtime. It ended England’s road that would have been their first World Cup final in 60 years.

“Whether you come alone or with friends, you’ve got a group to join to enjoy the match with and really be a part of,” Tate added. “I’ve watched, you know, over 30 years, I’ve watched people meet their best friends, their partners at soccer matches more than you’d expect. So it’s really nice, the culture that it brings.”

North Texas’s first World Cup match is June 14, less than a mile from the Londoner’s new location, when the Netherlands plays Japan.

Tate is excited about what this means for Arlington on the world stage: “I think it really puts Arlington on the map. I mean, they’ve put a lot of work into the entertainment district. We have the stadiums with the Rangers, the Cowboys, and I think that brings that to more of an international audience.”

She urges everyone to support local businesses during this international tournament.

“It’s like nine Super Bowls, but it’s really so much more than that because you don’t just have the game that’s at the stadium that day,” Tate said. “There’s often, especially in the initial stages, two other games taking place that day, at least on the TV that the fans are going to want to watch, because it all determines eventually who’s going to move forward.”

Tate added there will be promotional giveaways throughout the World Cup at the Arlington location and tented areas outside their other pubs for fans to watch outside.

NBC 5’s Laura Harris spoke to the Tate family about the chants, anthems, and organized chaos of watching international soccer at The Londoner.