Eat Out to Help Out.

I do wonder what the cumulative effect of this will be. Even if every single household in the country took up this voucher offer once a week in August would that in any way compensate for the number of tourists missing? China is one of the major contributers to the tourist industry and they won't be coming, most probably no Americans will come, which leaves a huge gap which won't be fillled by this scheme.

Topcat7

Yes we will. Table booked for tomorrow evening but of course will be following all the guidelines and as an extra precaution will take my ow hand sanitiser and wipes. This virus could be with us for years and getting back to as near normal as possible is essential for all our well being as well as supporting businesses.

You won’t be getting your “Eat out to help out” voucher for tomorrow., I’m afraid.
Mondays - Wednesdays

In my 'small corner' we'll happily support small local restaurants. My DS's restaurant has had to make 7 staff redundant. A huge percentage of their staff. With the new scheme they are hoping to re employ them. Good news for 7 families.
Meanwhile, due to the VAT reduction on hospitality we're adding an extra night to our short break in October. This means another whole day of visiting places and paying admissions as well as lunch out etc and all on top of the hotel having another night's income with all the knock on effects on staffing and supplies from that.
It's micro economics but if this sort of thing is going on throughout the country it's the start of a wave of positivity which is sorely needed. Me in my small corner and you in yours.

I won't make a special effort to eat out on those days, as in normal times I didn't anyway. We have continued to have takeaways throughout the lockdown to support local businesses

I am like many I am going to just watch how things pan out for a couple of weeks but I am getting very annoyed how many people are just prepared to moan and put a downer on anything suggested. This attitude is not helping we need some sort of normality to look forward to ! I know I do .

We all want to help kick start the economy as much as we can.

Those of us who are lucky enough to have a good income with no worries of redundancy can do the most.

I think too jane where people can see that businesses are passing on things like the VAT reduction etc, then they deserve our support.

But and it is a massive but, no one must run away with the idea that efforts like those mentioned will kick start our economy.

What has happened to the U.K. and indeed the world is massive. It needs massive action to get it going again.

Full credit to the establishments that opened and are adhering to they strict rules. Come August though I fear that just like a lot of the population have been ignoring social distancing in stores etc people and establishments will become lax in these types of establishments too. Familiarity breeds contempt! I would eat outside but not under cover.

If those who can spend carry out that action, that can and will be massive action throughout the world.

Nothing else is sustainable in the long term.

Really nice to read some positive posts. We shall certainly take advantage of this scheme and help out where we possibly can. Rishi Sunak! A brilliant Chancellor! A future P.M? I certainly think so! Watch this space, carefully!!

Yes we will be supporting our local cafes and restaurants - having tea with a friend this afternoon and just ordered a take away from our favourite curry house - DH is took crook to go out - did his back in on the 5th Tee on Tuesday.
Seeing daughter and family on Saturday for the first time in 4 months so definitely going to her local pub proably the garden as she has a large dog and then a lovely Sunday lunch at another gastro pub - no dogs this time.
I did wonder if this new scheme for August included The Ritz.

Grandad1943

If those who can spend carry out that action, that can and will be massive action throughout the world.

Nothing else is sustainable in the long term.

The issue is the lack of spending which happens when economies hit rock bottom.

This happens for lots of reasons. Confidence and unemployment being the main factors.

The tool used in the past which you have hinted at is Keynesianism in the form of demand. But in such a sharp downturn aggregate demand in the form you are suggesting won’t be sufficient to incentivise firms to hire workers to ease employment.

We know from previous recessions like post war, government intervention can stimulate demand, but the question is how much stimulation is needed.

My argument is that given the depth of the recession (comparable or worse than the 1930s) and the amount of stimulation needed then ,we need something very similar.

My worry is that whilst Sunak appears to recognise the need for stimulation he has been neither imaginative nor courageous enough to carry this out.

We're really hoping it will be safe enough to partake of this deal as before we used to go out for lunch at least once a week, and are really missing it. It will also give us a chance to try restaurants or pubs that do not normally do deals, provided they are taking part. It's great that it includes soft drinks also.

Think I’ll pay the bill and leave the 50% as a tip IF it goes to the waiter

I'm likely to take advantage of this offer, especially at lunchtime when £10 off will easily halve my bill - I don't drink alcohol as I usually drive. I hope lots of small local eateries sign up to the offer as I think it is important to support them.

I had assumed that the VAT cut was for the benefit of the business, not to be passed on to customers, perhaps I missed something as other people here seem to want that discount as well as the £10 scheme.

As for complaining about the deal not matching the previous days headlines ( ie £500 spending vouchers) I was actually horrified at that - how on earth could our economy afford it! I rarely believe such headlines anyway, sounded like an April Fool's trick to me!

I hope this is supported my DS works in hospitality and has been made redundant I would like to think he can get back in work soon.

Whitewavemark2, in regard to your post @10:02 it should be remembered that the government has also promised large-scale spending on roads and housing.

It was the Clement Atlee Labour government spending on a huge council house building program in 1945-1950 along with railway restructuring and the formation of the NHS that prevented Britain from once again having unemployment at the levels that were common throughout the late 1920s and 1930.

We can all argue where and at what levels this governments spending should take place. However, with an eighty seat majority, it will be this government that in the end will decide such matters.

Then it will be for those in employment or who are on good pensions to spend that income to better the overall economy.

That is the way it always has been and always will be. For what is to come from government(s), this is as good as it gets.

grandad do you mean as good as we can expect from this Tory government?

It certainly isn’t as good as it gets.

I don't remember any government that's given as much as this.

Jane10

I don't remember any government that's given as much as this.

That is because you weren’t alive (I assume) jane

Johnson headline “New Deal” was copied from Roosevelt’s economic plan in the 30s. But nothing Sunak has so far put forward bears any resemblance either to the new deal or post war labour spending.

Why the concentration on eating out when so many other things were announced to help get people back into work and help the economy. I have no-one to go out for a meal with so I won't be going, if I did - I would.

Yes we probably will. We don't eat out very often as I love cooking & trying new things but I can see it is a good way to get people back into restaurants again.
I would like a good curry TBH. Never quite the same when I make it at home. We have a very good Keralan restaurant in town too.

We will keep an eye on the websites of local pubs to see if any are participating.

I don't normally eat out much and I can't recall ever eating out on a Monday to Wednesday evening. But I would support local independent cafes and restaurants, when I feel it is safe, which is not yet. But I might feel better about the risks in August if no surge in second waves in July, such as the one in Leicester.

The VAT reduction is a tax incentive which will be passed on to customers, but obviously it doesn't stop hospitality businesses putting up their prices to reflect their increased costs and reduction in turnover.
Quite frankly unless these smaller local businesses raise their VAT excluded prices a little, few will survive on the meagre £10 discount voucher scheme alone. It would have been good to see the temporary VAT reduction rolled out to other sectors.
However how we and the next few generations are going to pay for all this support will also be a worry .

Whitewavemark2

grandad do you mean as good as we can expect from this Tory government?

It certainly isn’t as good as it gets.

Well, I would put it this way Whitewavemark2. It is as good as it is going to get from this government, and far more than many on the left such as myself would ever have expected to come from a Conservative government.

After all, we only have to look towards Donald Trumps ultra-right-wing America to witness how the situation could have been in Britain. In that, we have seen long lines of displaced workers with their children queuing up for meagre daily food handouts at roadside charity stalls which closely resemble the soup kitchens of the 1930s

Let's all be thankful that although the situation Britain is in is far from good we have, at least, nothing resembling the situation in America.

If enough of us who can now all pull together and spend some money, we may soon see some light at the end of the tunnel.

For there is nothing else.

I seem to remember a thread with some saying they'd been supporting local restaurants by ordering their home deliveries. Shame that the vulnerable miss out again as this voucher doesn't seem to extend to takeaways, assuming the restaurants will keep doing them.