Retail experts have predicted a bumper weekend for shops as people turned off by two days of wall-to-wall sport look to the high street.
Analyst firm Footfall said with the Ashes test series taking place in Manchester and the beginning of the Premiership football season this weekend, many sporting widows - or indeed sporting widowers - will go shopping instead.
Footfall drew on figures from the first two days of the premiership last year which showed shopper numbers up 6% week-on-week and 1% year-on-year.
"We are expecting a similar rise in footfall over this weekend, with consumers hitting the shops in defiance of their partners choosing to spend their leisure time at matches or in front of the television," said Natasha Burton, from Footfall.
"This provides retailers with a real opportunity to take advantage of this captive audience.
"We are anticipating a number of key retailers to hold one-off events over the weekend, as well as special incentives and further sale offers to entice consumers into store and increase sales revenue."
If the predictions come true, it will be welcomed by many retailers. UK high streets are currently in the midst of a consumer slowdown with figures released on Tuesday showing shops experienced the worst July in a decade last month.
