Many a football fan has found themselves stranded on holiday searching for a pub showing the big match.

Within weeks, students and pub goers in Kent will become the first to test a new app designed to alleviate the stress of finding the best boozer in an unfamiliar place.

Quench will be launched in Canterbury in May after two years of development which started when co-founders Craig Cameron and David Turner were unable to find a nice pub showing boxing while on holiday in Devon.

So far, 19 drinking holes in the city have signed up for the trial of the service, which its backers believe could also provide a new way for pubs to market their services to a wider audience.

"My wife likes cocktails and live music," said Mr Cameron, who lives in Eccles, near Maidstone.

"She can search and find out which pubs do cocktails and have a band playing without walking around the streets."

The company already employs eight people spread from Hamburg to Dartford, with three staff living in Kent.

Canterbury was seen as the ideal place to launch the app due to its density of pubs and tech-minded student population.

Mr Cameron said: "Canterbury has got a really good variety and number of pubs and bars which is fantastic. It's quite vibrant for that.

"We also think the student side of Canterbury could be a really good audience for us. It just makes sense. Also I'm selfish and want to launch it close to home and where I like going for a night out."

The company conducted three sets of market research before launch.

"The first thing is we spoke to friends and everyone we spoke to agreed there's a need for something to make this easier," said Mr Cameron.

"On the pub side we spoke to a couple of breweries who think there is definitely a massive gap for these guys to promote their businesses.

"When pubs do marketing they stick an A-board outside and go on Facebook. The issue with that is it only reaches people who follow them.

"We have also been talking to brands who think the can advertise directly to these pubs on the app. We are going to be collecting a lot of data. We can tell pubs what products people are looking for and what facilities they like."

If it proves successful, Mr Cameron aims for Quench to be rolled out in other Kent towns like Maidstone or Ashford before eventually going nationwide.

He also has big plans to develop the app further for its users.

"It will get to the point where this will be automated," he said. "It will know, for example, if you are a West Ham fan and can alert you to pubs in your area which will be showing the match.

"It is something we have taken extremely seriously. We are pretty far down the line with it."