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Will you be eating out to help out?

Will you be eating out to help out?

  • YES - I will be eating out more often due to the scheme

    Votes: 62 29.2%
  • YES - I will be eating out as much as usual, but taking advantage of the scheme

    Votes: 74 34.9%
  • NO - I think it's too dangerous to eat out at the moment

    Votes: 7 3.3%
  • NO - I do not normally eat out and this scheme won't encourage me

    Votes: 45 21.2%
  • I will be eating out but avoiding the scheme as it will make places too busy

    Votes: 2 0.9%
  • Don't know / undecided

    Votes: 3 1.4%
  • NO - I'd like to eat out, but won't while the Covid Secure measures are in place

    Votes: 19 9.0%

  • Total voters
    212
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Journeyman

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It wasn't really planned, but whilst shopping this morning I called into a coffee shop. Had a drink and cake for considerably less than they usually charge for the coffee on its own. Bargain!

I suspect a lot of people might spontaneously choose to buy more than they otherwise would at the moment.
 
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Butts

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The chain is Greene King, although I don't know if this is a national initiative, or a more localised one as they recent took over quite a few pubs in the area. Either way if they want to offer me 50% off my steak, triple cooked chips and all the trimmings then it would be rude not to!


So are Beefeater and they are a National Chain - see my post about Dundee visit last night.
 

sheff1

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It's not really clear to what extent it does actually help - has it just resulted in most of the same people going out who would anyway, but earlier in the week instead of Friday/Saturday?

Purely anecdotal, but the waitress in the place I was in on Saturday told me it had been "much busier" than usual on the '50%' days, but quieter than usual on Thursday & Friday.
 

Bletchleyite

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Purely anecdotal, but the waitress in the place I was in on Saturday told me it had been "much busier" than usual on the '50%' days, but quieter than usual on Thursday & Friday.

That might actually be a useful offering for those who would like to go out but are nervous of the risks of it being busy.
 

GusB

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No I don't, but that doesn't mean I won't get told to isolate "out of an abundance of caution".

To be honest I could put up with most of the other stuff, it's the requirement to hand over my details so I can be arbitarily placed under house arrest that puts me off. I doubt I'll go near a pub until that requirement goes. A few quid off a meal won't make any difference.
Oh, deary me. Please stop! I've heard enough drama-queenery.

There's no arbitrary house arrest. You would be advised to self-isolate for a certain period of time if you happen to test positive for the virus. Is it not a case of "better safe than sorry"?
 

bramling

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That might actually be a useful offering for those who would like to go out but are nervous of the risks of it being busy.

Is it though? Normally if I was seeking a quiet restaurant the discount nights are the ones I would pick, perhaps Sunday also.

From what I’ve seen this week there has been very high demand on the discount days. On my way to work in the early afternoon I’ve seen pub and restaurant car parks overflowing, and very unusually high levels of traffic in north London and in my town during the evening. I’d also add that I’ve also seen an unusually high number of minor traffic accidents along the way, along with a more serious accident on the A1 on Tuesday evening, so perhaps eat out hasn’t been so wonderful for everyone...

I continue to find it baffling. If the objective is to encourage scared people out then busy venues isn’t the way to do that. Likewise moving demand from normally busy nights to normally quiet nights seems to be odd. Furthermore it’s an extremely odd time to do it picking working days at a time when allegedly we’re supposed to be cajoling the population back to work. Especially as not very long ago at all these places were supposedly so dangerous they had to be closed altogether, now Sunak seems to want to flood them with people, and whilst Johnson has been hinting at an anti-obesity agenda too.

The mind boggles, it really does.
 

Scrotnig

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Oh, deary me. Please stop! I've heard enough drama-queenery.

There's no arbitrary house arrest. You would be advised to self-isolate for a certain period of time if you happen to test positive for the virus. Is it not a case of "better safe than sorry"?
No. That is not a reason to throw people's lives into chaos and push them into financial hardship.

Also, would I be expected to tell the elderly relative I provide care for "sorry, you'll have to fend for yourself for two weeks"? I value things like that far more than a cheap meal in a pub.

And - being told you CANNOT leave your house under ANY circumstances for 14 days, certainly is house arrest and it certainly is arbitrary.
 

D365

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Could there be an option for "working to help people eat out"? ;)
 

yorksrob

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In my part of the world, we're under constant threat of being locked down anyway, so my view is that I may as well enjoy a meal out with friends while the option exists.

And I had a very nice slap up meal yesterday - probably would have found it on the pricey side without the £10 discount.
 

Bletchleyite

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Oh, deary me. Please stop! I've heard enough drama-queenery.

There's no arbitrary house arrest. You would be advised to self-isolate for a certain period of time if you happen to test positive for the virus. Is it not a case of "better safe than sorry"?

No, you're "advised" to self isolate for 14 days if you've been in close contact with someone who has tested positive whether you do or not. That "advice" isn't really advice.

It's making me more careful than the risks of the virus itself!
 

Mojo

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Have thus far made use of the offer every day it has applied, and am aiming to try and “Eat Out To Help Out” every day it applies.

Week 1
Monday lunch - Costa’s in the Trafford Centre (Greater Manchester)
Don’t normally stop off at Costa’s because I don’t drink coffee and it’s quite expensive. The first thing I noticed was the prices of the sandwiches were a lot cheap than I remembered, but they were also really weird prices. I think my Toastie was £2.38. It was only as I was at the checkout, I saw a sign stating that they have reduced all their prices because of the Vat cuts; this is the only place I’ve visited that I’ve actually noticed them doing that, or at least advertising it. Unfortunately our toasties spent a little longer in the oven than they should have done as the operative was trying to explain to someone about the half price scheme which they had never heard of. I was tempted to avoid asking them what rock they’ve been living under.
Tea, Coffee and two toasties was £5.18.

Tuesday lunch - tea room attached to hotel in the Lake District
This place was really run by Covid extremists. Signs up everywhere; do this, don’t do that, wear a muzzle. There was no sticker up about Eat Out To Help Out but it was listed on the government website. When we went in I asked the maitre D and she said, yes. Instructions were given to order on “an App” (this was actually a website). There was no discount applied so I approached a waitress who took a manual order (and asked for my phone number which she wrote on her notepad). When we went to pay - they tried to tell us that you only get a discount if you buy on their “App” - which was patently untrue - I took a screenshot of this!

Tuesday - local pub in the Lake District
I really struggled to find anywhere to eat this night so was lucky to have found anything! Everywhere was saying they are full, or will not entertain someone turning up without booking. Not sure if this is because it’s the peak season, or if it was just busy. I did notice that pubs here shut very early (many I called said they don’t take any food orders after 7.45/8pm which is very early and I would say limits the number of customers they can serve). Three courses for two was £29.50 ish.

Wednesday breakfast - Farm shop in Lake District
Nothing really to report. No signage about any discount but it is listed online and I asked the waitress before ordering. Annoyingly this place participates in “shop small” from Amex - however with two breakfasts at £9.95 each (we only ended up paying £9.95 rather than each person’s breakfast being reduced by 50%) I was 5p below the limit - maybe I should have ordered an orange juice too!

Wednesday dinner - Wetherspoon in Kendal (forum meal)
I spent most of the day calling around places and asking if they would take a booking. All were fully booked, so we ended up here. Ordered on the app. All desserts were out of stock except apple crumble. There was a maitre D on the door allocating tables to people and turning those away who could not be accommodated. Lots of people in the pub just having drinks or meeting up with friends. I think every table was full. Most of the chain restaurants were still closed in the town which can’t have helped crowding at the places that are still open.
Food for me (luxury burger, drink and dessert) was around £6.

Week 2
Monday - Pizza Express suburban London
My favourite restaurant so was great to be back! Had a family member staying with us this week so tonight’s meal was for 3. As someone who only drinks soft drinks they have streamlined their drinks menu and all I could drink was a still lemonade - apple juice (my normal favourite) and orange juice are both off the temporary menu. They wanted us to scan a QR code to view the menu but this was too much hassle so I was given a paper menu. Food delicious as always! Had a voucher for £15 off when you spend £45. This voucher was applied before the discount was taken, so the government discount was able to be used to its full extent.
Three courses for three people for just under £23!

Tuesday - Harvester suburban London
Another three course meal for three tonight. I also had a “birthday” voucher which had a long expiry date as it was sent to me when the restaurant was closed, for £10 off a £30 order. Unlike the night before this voucher wasn’t applied until after the government discount.
Three courses for three were just over £25.

Wednesday - Beefeater at a town in the North
We only really went here because it was the only place that had any space for an online booking. It’s a mid sized town with only four chain restaraunts but plenty of pubs, I didn’t fancy calling them all up so restricted the search to places with online bookings. After booking I had an email titled “don’t forget to use your code” with a voucher for £15 off a £30 booking. The email was also emblazoned with stickers for Eat Out To Help Out, but mentioned the code wasn’t valid with any other offer, so was worthless for this meal which I thought was misleading and I hope nobody was caught out by this given most places actively state that their own offers can be combined with the government discount. Beefeater however have extended the government discount and removed the £10 cap - which was just as well as they are so blinking expensive two of the three of us ended up with bigger than £10 discounts.
Meal for three, two courses came to just over £38 (who says things are cheaper up North?!)
 

Busaholic

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Costa, M&S cafes and Morrisons' cafes have all passed on the VAT cut. In the case of Morrisons they have also extended the half price offer to all day every day. Have only mentioned those places because I've visited them all in the last fortnight. Going to be hard going back to 2020 prices rather than those from around the Millenium!
 

bramling

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Costa, M&S cafes and Morrisons' cafes have all passed on the VAT cut. In the case of Morrisons they have also extended the half price offer to all day every day. Have only mentioned those places because I've visited them all in the last fortnight. Going to be hard going back to 2020 prices rather than those from around the Millenium!

Tonight’s drive home through north London - quiet as a mouse, most pub and restaurant car parks conspicuously empty. Well done Rishi!
 

initiation

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Took advantage of it for the first time yesterday evening. Pub in a nearby small town. The staff looked absolutely run off their feet even with 8 of them working (plus chefs). £23 for a steak, burger with extras, two soft drinks and a cider (non discount of course).

Booked in next monday for a restuarant we've wanted to go to for ages but never quite got around to.
 

richw

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I have done by accident. I forgot all about it, met an old friend in Wetherspoons for lunch I haven’t seen since last summer as I was near his home (250miles from my house)
Mixed grill and Pepsi £4.89!
 

BJames

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Probably an exception because of A Level results day but my local Wetherspoons was absolutely rammed yesterday (Thursday) despite not being on a discount day. They're cheap enough anyway and I think people just wanted to get together after a busy day.
 

Scrotnig

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Wales are to join Scotland in making the capturing of genuine contact details in pubs and restaurants mandatory.

It's clearly only a matter of time before England follows suit, making it even less likely that I'll go near any pub or restaurant unless normality returns...however long that may be (and I personally believe it will be never, these unprecedented powers won't be rescinded easily once acquired).
 

island

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I went for a Nando's on Tuesday with my wife. We spent a good 50% more than our usual order. The restaurant was full to capacity with 45-minute wait on arrival and 60-75 minute wait when we left. The ordering was via their website at the table, and the host gave us chits with coupon codes to be entered when paying in order to apply the 50% discount. The orders were not going through to the restaurant's system, merely popping up on a tablet and being rekeyed into the tills by a staff member.

I expect to use the scheme at least once a week for the remainder of its currency.
 

holl1984

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No we won’t be. We have yet to find somewhere who will take our booking as a single household family of 8.
 

Huntergreed

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No we won’t be. We have yet to find somewhere who will take our booking as a single household family of 8.
I would perhaps recommend making two separate bookings as groups of 4, as this might be easier to accommodate.
 

BJames

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No we won’t be. We have yet to find somewhere who will take our booking as a single household family of 8.
Which is a shame since our local spoons had a table of people celebrating their A Level results yesterday... a table of around 14 people, that is. Some places are more accommodating than others, perhaps they're just too busy on monday-wednesday now, I'm sure they'd take your booking eagerly on the four days of the week that unsurprisingly no longer have high levels of patronage.
 

BJames

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I would perhaps recommend making two separate bookings as groups of 4, as this might be easier to accommodate.
Yes and request sitting near each other, a lot of restaurants haven't put up perspex screens between tables so this could effectively work out ok for you.
 

Huntergreed

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I'm really concerned about Sturgeon's remarks around hospitality today. She's imposed far more restrictions on them (mandating collection of contact details, no background music/TV's allowed on, pubs should be actively checking whether people from different households are distancing or not and pub staff are expected to enforce this.

She also made it sounds like she was potentially considering a full closure of hospitality again if there was another outbreak which originated in a pub/restaurant, saying something like 'They're lucky that they are able to trade in any way at the moment, and we won't hesitate to close them down again if this is deemed a concerningly high transmission vector' (it wasn't exactly that, but it was along those lines). This approach is just so unsustainable and unfair on so many people's livelihoods and businesses, she really has a lot to answer for :(
 

holl1984

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Will give this a go this week. The children love eating out (and I love the stress free meal times!)
 

DB

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I'm really concerned about Sturgeon's remarks around hospitality today. She's imposed far more restrictions on them (mandating collection of contact details, no background music/TV's allowed on, pubs should be actively checking whether people from different households are distancing or not and pub staff are expected to enforce this.

She also made it sounds like she was potentially considering a full closure of hospitality again if there was another outbreak which originated in a pub/restaurant, saying something like 'They're lucky that they are able to trade in any way at the moment, and we won't hesitate to close them down again if this is deemed a concerningly high transmission vector' (it wasn't exactly that, but it was along those lines). This approach is just so unsustainable and unfair on so many people's livelihoods and businesses, she really has a lot to answer for :(

She really is seeming increasingly authoritarian of late.
 

BJames

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I'm really concerned about Sturgeon's remarks around hospitality today. She's imposed far more restrictions on them (mandating collection of contact details, no background music/TV's allowed on, pubs should be actively checking whether people from different households are distancing or not and pub staff are expected to enforce this.

She also made it sounds like she was potentially considering a full closure of hospitality again if there was another outbreak which originated in a pub/restaurant, saying something like 'They're lucky that they are able to trade in any way at the moment, and we won't hesitate to close them down again if this is deemed a concerningly high transmission vector' (it wasn't exactly that, but it was along those lines). This approach is just so unsustainable and unfair on so many people's livelihoods and businesses, she really has a lot to answer for :(
She really is seeming increasingly authoritarian of late.
Agreed. Pubs don't want to have this extra responsibility, and realistically from my pub experiences in England, this will be a tall order - nobody listening to the staff, so threats of kicking people out don't work - they'll lose every person in there!
 

takno

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I'm really concerned about Sturgeon's remarks around hospitality today. She's imposed far more restrictions on them (mandating collection of contact details, no background music/TV's allowed on, pubs should be actively checking whether people from different households are distancing or not and pub staff are expected to enforce this.

She also made it sounds like she was potentially considering a full closure of hospitality again if there was another outbreak which originated in a pub/restaurant, saying something like 'They're lucky that they are able to trade in any way at the moment, and we won't hesitate to close them down again if this is deemed a concerningly high transmission vector' (it wasn't exactly that, but it was along those lines). This approach is just so unsustainable and unfair on so many people's livelihoods and businesses, she really has a lot to answer for :(
My impression from hospitality staff I know who have been backing her to the hilt right up to now is that she's blown it totally. It's close to impossible to comply with the new restrictions
 

Yew

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we won't hesitate to close them down again if this is deemed a concerningly high transmission vector'

I miss the days when we were considered humans, with basic rights and freedoms, as opposed to viral "transmission vectors". It's feeling more and more like we're destroying the country to "save" it.
 
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