UK weather forecast: 30C scorcher after bumper World Cup weekend with extra 4m pints to be drunk during England game

London's pubs and bars are preparing for a bumper weekend with perfect summer weather and a festival of sport including England’s World Cup game against Panama.

As well as the Three Lions’ second group match in Nizhny Novgorod there are five other World Cup games including Germany v Sweden, Poland v Colombia and Belgium v Tunisia tomorrow and Sunday.

The timing of England’s 1pm kick-off on Sunday is perfect for pubs, with many thousands of families expected to “make a day of it” by booking tables to watch.

The British Beer and Pub Association estimated that an extra four million pints will be consumed during the Panama match. Forecasters said temperatures in London are expected to reach around 25C over the weekend before hitting 30C next week.

Martin Bowles, operational meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “There’s widespread sunshine for several days due. Over the weekend it’s going to stay sunny across the board almost everywhere. The temperature will be up a little bit each day.”

As well as the football, tomorrow is the last day of Royal Ascot, and three major rugby matches are also taking place — Australia v Ireland, South Africa v England and Argentina v Scotland.

For tennis fans, the final of the Fever Tree Queen’s Championships takes place on Sunday, with the Eastbourne women’s tournament continuing over the weekend. The French Grand Prix takes place on Sunday.

Cricket fans can enjoy England’s women playing South Africa in the T20 tri-series at Taunton tomorrow, with England’s men attempting to whitewash Australia in the fifth one day international at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday. If England win on Sunday, Gareth Southgate’s men are almost guaranteed to progress from Group G to the knock-out stages of the tournament.

Google searches for “England World Cup Tickets” have spiked since Harry Kane netted the late winner against Tunisia on Monday.

The final group game is on Thursday evening against Belgium in Kaliningrad.

The UK heatwave will culminate next Wednesday, which forecasters say could be the hottest day of the year so far.

The 30C peak will match highs in holiday hot spots in southern Spain. The average for this time of year is about 21C in London. Meteorologist Mr Bowles added: “Monday 27C, Tuesday 28C, it’s quite likely, I’d say more likely than not, that somewhere in the UK on Wednesday will get 30C, probably the South-East of England.”

He pointed out that this is not certain as Wednesday is still far ahead in forecasting terms. If the temperature hits 30C it will be as hot as Gibraltar and parts of southern Spain, such as Marbella, which are also forecast to be around 30C.

Temperatures soared to 29.1C (84F) in St James’s Park in April.