Pub landlords in Oxfordshire were celebrating today after a judge's ruling paved the way for them to serve alcohol during World Cup football games.

Publicans applying to magistrates for a licence to sell drinks during the early morning televised games in June can now expect their applications to be granted.

This follows a High Court ruling yesterday in favour of a Bristol landlord.

Previously, pubs were refused such licences after magistrates issued guidelines declaring watching the World Cup was not a special occasion.

The ruling overrides the guidelines. Tim Moorhouse, manager of the Magdalen Arms, in Iffley Road, Oxford, welcomed the judgement and said the pub would be applying for extended hours.

He said: "We will definitely be going for it. I didn't really see the problem in the first place."

He said football fans among his regulars had asked him continually if the pub would be open during the World Cup. They would be delighted by the court's decision.

England's first match in the competition, which is being staged in Japan and Korea, is against Sweden on Sunday, June 2, and kicks off at 10.30am British time. One of the first pubs in the country to be refused a special licence was the Buck and Bell, in North Bar, Banbury.

Licensee Wayne Farrell said he would now lodge a new application.

Oxford police's licensing officer, Pc Bill Denver, said pubs would have to get their applications in quickly for the next licensing hearing in mid-May.

He said so far only a handful of pubs in the county had applied for early licences and the police had no special plans to deal with early drinking. "If there's a change in demand we will review our policy. Certainly, from the response we have had so far, we have had no indication it will cause us any problems," he said.

Applications to magistrates would be judged on their own merits and pubs could still be refused permission if there had been trouble in the past, he added.

Normally, pubs can serve alcohol between 11am and 11pm. For special events, such as the Queen's Golden Jubilee, they can apply for a special order to vary these hours.

However, under the previous case, guidelines dating back to the 1978 World Cup, watching football on TV did not constitute a special occasion. A spokesman for the Magistrates' Association said: "We will be issuing new guidelines as soon as possible. Now that the 1978 case law has been superseded, magistrates can make progress."

Sid Brighton, chief executive of the Justices' Clerks' Society, legal advisers to the Magistrates' Association, said: "We said the existing case law made it impossible for the courts to grant applications.

"We're pleased it was tested in court as quickly as it was so we can issue guidance to our members."

He said games would have to be shown on large, wide-screen televisions for games to be judged special occasions.