29 March, 2024

What’s For Dessert: Is The Success Of The Chancellor’s Eat Out To Help Out Scheme Just For Starters?

It’s now official that the Eat Out To Help Out scheme is bringing in more diners than pre-lockdown as RESTAURANTS have reportedly been more than a quarter busier than they were before the March 23 lockdown. And of course this is solely on the back of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s newly promoted Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Over the first two weeks of the new scheme that operates Between Mondays and Wednesdays restaurants have reported being on average more than 25 per cent fuller than they were on exactly the same like for like days of last year. This report is according to the data collected from the restaurant reservation service called OpenTable.

Of course this data is for the days when the state-backed post-lockdown kick start scheme, which offers 50% off a meal up to £10 per person and it applies for the whole of this month of August.

Interestingly This is reported to have led to a slight dip in diners from Thursdays to Sundays and so this resulted in figures showing overall that trading throughout the week was almost boosted back to normal levels because of the increased business at the start of the week.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has praised the dining deal for bringing a ‘much-needed boost towards normality’ because it is coaxing Britons back into the habit of eating out and socialising.

For the lockdown period during March and June The CEBR estimates that in spending in Central London restaurants, pubs and shops was down by an astonishing £575m for each month of March, April, May and June. But the prediction is that this spending is set to recover slightly, falling by £178m in August. And this is in part because of the scheme.

So, a great starter… What else will be on the menu to help kick start the hospitality sector?


Business Talk

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