To be sad that there will be no £500 vouchers

[benadrylcucumberpatch]

Being able to make a frivolous purchase definitely would have got me back to the shops!

The government can’t provide adequate ppe to those that need it and couldn’t pay for ventilators so they were always unlikely to give £500. I’m shocked that anyone fell for it enough to feel sad!

Gutted. People in some areas won't even get that. Think about those who will be in local lock downs. The drop in vat won't be passed on to consumers so people will still not have money to spend in these places to cover the 50% they still need to pay.

If the £10 gets people into local small restaurants then it is a good thing, I can easily get a decent meal around here for £20.

If it's going to Nandos, pizza hut and Mcdonalds then it's not so good.

I live rurally so there aren’t any restaurants near me . Of course I have sympathy for those who are losing their business or their jobs but this situation just goes to prove how much of a luxury eating out actually is. Perhaps people will spend more of their income on good quality locally produced food to cook at home ?

@Purpletigers is there such a thing as too many restaurants?

Time will tell actually . There are a lot of seriously mediocre ones around . Especially all the cheap and cheerful chain restaurants.
I would prefer people to spend their money on high quality locally sourced food to cook at home. I think it would be better for them both nutritionally and financially in the long term.
.

I've just read about the 5k energy grant though so that's good news!

and a smack in the face from the government who are reinstating parking charges.

This is a disgrace. Charging staff to park is basically the government taxing them even more in a sneaky way

@BubblyBarbara

and a smack in the face from the government who are reinstating parking charges.

This is a disgrace. Charging staff to park is basically the government taxing them even more in a sneaky way

Frankly I cannot wait until parking charges are reintroduced, or to be more precise I cannot wait until the parking restrictions are reintroduced. Since they were removed and my trust being close to the city centre it's been utter chaos with any Tom, Dick or Harry parking on site, going off to work, (not in the hospital) shopping or whatever the hell they are doing and frankly making it impossible to park for any staff arriving for later shifts.

The sooner they are reintroduced the better.

Ergh the whole eat out thing is terrible, and who gives the ok to the names they are coming up with?!

I don't think it will work, anyone who wants food that bad will already be going, the same people I imagine that waited in line for hours for some soggy fries and orange burgers. No one else is going to risk spreading it over a £10 saving, it's not that enticing a deal.

My annual cinema membership ended in Feb and I didn't renew - if they pass on the VAT saving that'll be about £50

@PaulineScrambledPhones

Did anyone else have an immature snigger at “Eat our to help out”?

Yes 😅😅😅

Ftlog anyone who thought the government might give cash to individuals is mad.

This was never about helping individuals. It was about helping businesses/the economy by trying to get people to spend money they otherwise would not have spent.

If they give you £50 and you spend it on the school uniform nobody wins except you, you had to buy that anyway.

They would actively rather you ended up borrowing to afford it if necessary, there's nothing that eases a recession quicker than people borrowing to spend to buy what they need.

The whole point of meals out on a Monday or Tuesday is its sheer extra spending that would otherwise have not been spent. They want to help restaurants who might usually close on those days, to make up for the year by having a bumper August in tourist season and perhaps open every day because the extra demand makes it profitable to do so.

Showmewhatyougot
In August in lots of tourist towns the restaurants are packed thurs to sun. There is excess demand, you will get some people who can't get a table etc.

The government are doing this to incentivise people to shift to the less popular days, by spreading the demand it makes it possible to service more customers and overall more money is spent.

People like DH and I who's finances haven't been hit by this, we would usually have not thought about it and booked a meal on a Friday on holiday but why not save £20?

Purpletigerlove
Theres very little profit in home cooked food.

Don't you get it?

We need economic growth. Jobs. Spending. Paying other people to do things for us even when we could do them at home for ourselves.

If I cook a meal at home using good quality local ingredients, only the farmer/producer & perhaps a small local shop make any money.

If eat the same food out, the following people make some money:

• the farmer/producer
• a food wholesaler/distributor
• suppliers to the restaurant trade (menu printing, staff uniforms, table cloths & crockery, advertising in local media)
• the waiters and waitresses
• the chef
• the restaurant owner
• the landlord of the premises

I can see the point but it feels pretty low level tbh.

Is it enough to entice people out who don't feel like they want to yet?
Does it help anyone who is really struggling?

They are running this whole pandemic like a campaign, a new announcement a day.

We need a more coherent plan really, we are looking at massive impacts.

Labyrinthloafer
It helps businesses who are struggling

Why would they help individuals?

£500 would have got me onto the high street. £10 off Nandos won't.

Everyone spending £500 on cheap tat mostly imported wouldn't have helped our economy. It would worsen the balance of payments deficit and the money would benefit other countries more than us. Far better to encourage people to support UK tourism/hospitality and spend money on job creation in the UK etc.

The government are doing this to incentivise people to shift to the less popular days, by spreading the demand it makes it possible to service more customers and overall more money is spent.

Also spreading people over 7 days means restaurants are less busy so reduces risk of covid spreading.

They have specifically chosen restaurants because a huge chunk of that supply chain is UK based.

If they give individuals money, they buy crap that could be made anywhere, from businesses that are probably owned elsewhere. They also tend to buy the things they needed and would have bought anyway.

No one needs a meal in a restaurant.

I just realised that there are literally 3 pubs/restaurants around us that have NOT closed permanently due to covid: Wetherspoons, another pub chain, and a horrendous indian. everything else has closed for good, or is now takeaway/delivery only with no plans on opening the restaurant part ever again.

It's not the greatest idea in the world but I can't believe the negativity on this thread. Some people won't be happy with anything.

Hopefully the scheme will be easy to sign up to and lots of small independents will participate, because they're the ones that need the most help. And just because some don't open earlier in the week doesn't mean that they all don't and maybe some will decide to do so during August.

As others have said, most restaurants will be as full as they can be Thursday to Saturday, and possibly having to turn people away, especially as they will be operating on reduced capacity, so much of the M-W trade will be additional, so truely helping to boost trade.

And what do we in the NHS frontline get? Oh that's right, reinstatement of car parking fees

Now overturning that would be a great idea to help NHS staff, who have obviously been working incredibly hard, often for low pay. It's all very well clapping for carers and all the rainbow nonsense, which doesn't help people pay their bills but in reality, what most people need is decent pay and pay rises instead of all the pay freezes over the last few years, plus a properly funded NHS of course.

Maybe allowing free car parking, or subsidised public transport for NHS workers should be given as a reward for all the hard work and dedication? Could be paid for out of some of the money raised by Captain Tom? Who wouldn't support that? I might start a petition.

Not sure why people in the NHS are complaining (I am a nurse). The discounts and free stuff through CV have been huge and OTT. Plus all the controversial queue jumping