Ilkley could become one of the first places in the district to have its pubs opening early for the World Cup.

At the moment no bars in Bradford have lodged applications to open early for two of England's World Cup games in June.

Landlords have been monitoring the interest of their regulars to see if early opening would pay off, because the games are all been shown on normal television.

Landlord of The Star Inn, Leeds Road, Ilkley, Terry Stanley said: "I have contacted the licensing department and looked into getting an early licence, but you have to put a separate application in for each game.

"I am going to see if it is something my regulars would want and if it is then I might do it. I have to see if it is worth while because the matches are being shown on normal television, but if a handful of my regulars say that they would like to come here and see it them I'll put on a breakfast and sell vouchers for the game so they will still be able to drink."

"We get really good crowds in here when England and Leeds play so I can see there been a lot of interest for me to open early for the World Cup."

Mr Stanley is having his entire pub and guest rooms refurbished at the end of March in time for the World Cup games.

The new en-suite guest rooms will be ideal for those wanting to watch the early England games.

Sven Goran Erikson's men have been drawn in Group F and face Argentina, Nigeria and Sweden, two of their games will be played before official pub opening hours due to the time difference with Japan.

Their first match against Sweden starts at 10.30am on Sunday, June 2 and the second against Nigeria begins at 7.30am on Wednesday, June 12.

Despite the Magistrates' Association recommendation to JPs across the country to reject any applications to serve early morning, a number of publicans in Northampton have succeeded in getting approval.

The eight licensees in Northampton now have permission to open up early for games to be broadcast at 7.30am and 10.30am, the move comes after lawyers for the pubs argued that pubs were entertainment venues and as such fans would be participating in the event.

It follows a ruling in Leicester in 1978 which rejected early opening hours during the football because it claimed fans were not participants.

Chairman of Bradford Council licensing committee, Councillor Martin Smith (Cons, Ilkley), was surprised by the lack of interest shown by pubs in the district.

He said: "It's considered a special occasion and maybe early serving needs to be considered. I'm a football fan but I couldn't be bothered to go down to the pub at that time to watch a game."