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Wednesday September 9 | 2020
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HELPING OUT Diners have enjoyed discounts of up to £10 a head on meals
100,000 meals dished up to help out as scheme hailed a success By Richard Williams
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TENS of thousands of meals were served to customers in Tunbridge Wells during the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, official figures show. And diners enjoyed more than £500,000 worth of discounts before the initiative came to an end last week. According to the Treasury, 123 restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs took part in the initiative that saw a governmentfunded 50 per cent discount of up to £10 per head on food and any non-alcoholic drink consumed in sit down premises. Between them, more than 99,000 meals were dished up to hungry customers, with a total of £534,000 worth of discounts being claimed by the venues taking part. The average diner enjoyed a discount – which was available on either meals, or
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just a coffee and a snack consumed in sit down venues – of £5.38. But in Tonbridge, where 89,000 meals were served up by the 88 establishments taking part – with £633,000 worth of discounts paid out by the Treasury, custom-
‘It has brought in people that have never been to the restaurant before’ ers took better advantage of the scheme and enjoyed an average discount of £7.13 per head. Nationally, more than 100 million meals were served under the state-backed scheme that ran all day on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays during August.
So far, UK restaurants have made 130,000 claims worth £522million, but the figures likely to rise as outlets have until the end of September to claw the money back. Restaurant bookings surged during the scheme, especially on the final day. According to data from booking site OpenTable, restaurant reservations rose by 53 per cent compared with the Monday-to-Wednesday period in August 2019. Restaurateurs in Tunbridge Wells say the scheme saw their revenue for August increase by 25 per cent compared to the same month last year. Maurizio Di Santo, who runs French restaurant Coco Retro in Vale Road, told the Times: “It went very well. It really picked up the last two weeks as the first fortnight
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