The fast growing group has no televisions in its pubs and many had expected that sales would fall during the World Cup in June.

However, it said that sales continue to rise, with like for like sales increasing by 3.8% in May and 3.5% in June.

The pub group - which plans to open as many as 87 new pubs this year - warns that higher costs could still mean that profits for the full year are lower than expected.

Like for like sales in the 48 weeks to the 30 June increased by 5.1%,

The company is set to announce its full year results to July 28 on 6 September.