England fans drank the bars dry as they partied into the night singing controversial World War Two songs ahead of the opening game versus Serbia.
Rose Mercuri, the owner of Mercuri Bar in the center of Gelsenkirchen, said she had to lend booze to a neighboring establishment that had run out of lager.
“On a normal day when it's 30 degrees outside we normally sell two kegs,” she told the Express, “last night we went through 25.
“It was crazy I've never seen so many people in here. But they were well-behaved.
“We couldn't believe how nice the England fans were. Before the tournament we had been told they could be [aggressive] but everyone was very friendly. They treated the women respectfully.”
The bar owner claimed not to have heard references to the Second World War despite videos of the venue being shared with drunken supporters loudly chanting the controversial German Bombers song.
One group the Express spoke to said they'd had several renditions of the “not very politically correct” chant last night, but that it was all taken in good humor by their hosts.
Mercuri, who runs the cafe bar with her father, was gearing up for another busy day and had drafted in extra staff to cope with the influx of England fans.
The weather, however, was far from ideal. Intermittent spells of rain and sunshine in Heinrich-Konig-Platz left fans both running for cover and shielding their eyes.
Those who arrived in t-shirts and shorts face a long day battling the elements with the game kicking off at 9pm local time.
But that did not stop them from drinking the bars dry. As the day went on, more and more fans turned to local supermarkets to secure cans of beer as the small remaining pubs with beer became overcrowded.
England fans took to the streets to party hard, getting themselves in the mood ahead of the game.
Serbian fans were distinctly in the minority with England fans vastly outnumbering their opponents and there was little sign at this early stage of trouble some feared the fixture might generate.