What will happen to restaurants / cafes

[LaCouleurDeMonCiel]

Pre Covid / COL increase we would eat out as a family 1-2 a week. Eating out would often be spontaneous, places like Bills, Rosas Thai, pizzeria, etc. when we passed one while shopping or because we didn’t fancy cooking.

Now we have stopped the spontaneous meals because the prices are ridiculous. We still go out when we want to go to a specific restaurant or celebrate something but we don’t visit the casual low/mid range places because £100+ is too expensive for a quick ‘not that special’ meal.

Are we the only ones?
Will we see a change in the type of restaurants on the high streets? High end restaurants + cheap fast food ones but nothing in between?

Breaches of basic hygiene deserve to be called out, and people who might otherwise eat at that establishment need to be warned.

Good for them but in the next decade most of the lockdown dogs will be dead, what will they do for customers then ? As a dog owner i will not use dog friendly eateries or hotels and i understand why non dog owners don't want to dine with dogs.

We very rarely eat out (can't even remember the last time, but it was pre covid) but our local places are always heaving, to the point the roads surrounding the various pubs, restaurants, takeaways & cafes are filled with dangerously parked vehicles because their car parks are full.

Maybe it's because for 20 somethings the big goals rarely seem achievable any more, so for many owning their own property is a pipe dream, ditto retiring at a reasonable age, therefore why not enjoy luxuries in the here and now .

Or it could just be a young person thing. I reckon if I had brought in my coffee and breakfast as I do now for all of my working life and put that money into my pension, I'd easily be retired by now ( I'm 53) but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I'd have done the same, assuming by a bad review the poster means 'related seeing a staff member let a dog lick her hands and then handle food' rather than the more lunatic fringe reviews you find on TripAdvisor.

There are still millions and millions in this country who can afford to eat out.

I tend to go for lunch with friends. Paying £20 per head is not so bad if it's only *1

I'm really sick of playing ££ for disappointing food so we're careful about where we go. Even the restaurant in town that everyone raves over was disappointing and no different to what we could name at home.

We noticed one of our local tapas places advertising for a chef, saying it would be ideal for a young person at college. The thought that it requires no more skill than a 16/17 year old might have put me off eating there.

We go out less often but recently went to Lago Lounge (a chain with quite a few sites I think) on a random Tuesday. They only had one or two tables free while we were there with a steady stream of customers. There's another restaurant nearby that's often quite empty (a chain of 10 restaurants) but it seems to be popular on deliveroo. I do wonder if they'll give up the restaurant space and focus on deliveries soon.

Most takeaways don't even taste great. They're either too salty or extremely bland.

We definitely eat out less than before.

High end, set menus, every month or so or special occasions. Don't always have wine as price rockets up but experience good service and quality ingredients for, on average £30. Don't go into chains any more apart from spoons as coffee is refilled and there is room to linger if you need to use up time.

That was an odd comment from the PP, what world does she live in.

We used to eat out at least twice a week, but now the prices have gone up so much and with rising bills and stagnant wages we can’t really afford to any more, the other day we stopped for lunch, 2 kids meals and 2 katsu currys and 2 soft drinks was £70, and it wasn’t a fancy place, they don’t even have a loo! Fish and chips are over £15 each, even Pret sandwiches are close to £10 each to sit in.

And this the problem - because somewhere is labelled ‘dog friendly’ it now translates to dog owners as ‘dogs take priority’.

If the dog just slept why didn’t you just leave it at home? Why does one even need to take an animal to a restaurant? That’s what baffles me.

I worry too for the small business owners. We have lived in our town for a long time and know the restauranteurs on sight, always have a chat when we are in etc...but we just can't afford to go out much at all anymore. I have noticed that the prices have increased and in many cases the quality has decreased as well.

I don’t get takeaways but I eat out more than ever, around three times a week, twice for lunch and once for dinner.

I'm in my 30s with a child and my own place and I'm still bringing in coffees to work! 😂

We've always been so carful about eating out because of low money. But we did go out much more than recently years.
I feel that services standards have gone down and food standards. I've been disappointed the last three times we've been out... Having said that I want to get for lunch on Saturdays more because that's cheaper and you can't go wrong with sandwich

That’s crazy, I was just reading the thread thinking about the meal at Zizzi myself and my 7 year old had this weekend. Three courses each and two glasses of wine, £52! Didn’t think that was bad at all.

I assume because she walked there with the dog, or went to the pub as a finish to the dog walk.

What Pret sandwiches are close to £10? £3 for a tuna and cucumber, £6 or £7 I think for a tuna melt or a chicken and avocado.

It’s weird isn’t it? I think that meal in a pub would’ve been £70/80 before ….and two crispy seaweed maybe about £7?

but the result is we go out far less…you are probably spending less now by not going out for dinner at all.

I think we’ve all been spoiled the last 15 years. As a kid, dinner at a restaurant was a rare treat, and our family went much more than my friends. So many people only went to restaurants for birthdays and celebrations.

I think we’re going back to the 70s/80’s and not in a good way.

If the dog just slept why didn’t you just leave it at home? Why does one even need to take an animal to a restaurant? That’s what baffles me.

Have you ever visited the Lake District? It’s a walker and dog owner paradise. It’s one of the most dog friendly areas of the UK and plenty of people take their dogs on holiday with them there(Not to mention locals out for a walk with their dog) There are numerous dog friendly shops and restaurants because the market is there so why wouldn’t they take their dog when they’re out with their dog and want lunch and businesses are actively welcoming them?

There are a lot of tourist attractions near me, I don’t know if they put their prices up in different areas but last time I went it was £20 for me and a toddler and that was a sandwich each and one coffee.

Good for them but in the next decade most of the lockdown dogs will be dead, what will they do for customers then ? As a dog owner i will not use dog friendly eateries or hotels and i understand why non dog owners don't want to dine with dogs.

Do you really think that dog friendly places are new? Sure there might be more of them
now but they’re far from new especially in very dog/dog owner friendly places like the Lake District. And I’d imagine that like many dog owners, when their dog dies, many of the owners will get another. People owned dogs before

I’m a dog owner and though I never take my 2 to restaurants or holiday because they’d hate it I’m more likely to frequent a dog friendly place because it gives me a positive impression of the place and also I want to see and pet some cute dogs. Not everyone is horrified by the sight of a dog whether or not they have one with them.

I'm in a residential area of London, but I'll be interested to look when I'm next in the West End or somewhere and see if the prices are different.