I'm not going to a restaurant again.

[ssd]

Me and dh just been out for dinner. Cheap and cheerful place, food not brilliant but half price so can't complain. Social distancing in place, took contact details at door, hand sanitiser at entrance and exit, paid contact less. Our table has plenty space around it.

Still felt too dodgy. Didn't enjoy it.
Won't be doing that again for a while.

Restaurants and pubs are going to vary in the way they interpret the Government's guidance, and some may well not being doing it entirely safely (I'd bet there's a crossover between them and places that had low hygiene standards in the past and/or problems with their license). If you're concerned about standards then I'd suggest doing a bit of research - walk past the place beforehand if possible or phone them up? I've got a very risk averse, ex-shielding family member and they do a lot of research before committing to a meal.

Risk isn't just about mortality, it is also about morbidity and long term implications. Read about the Covid long haulers. The car is more dangerous thing has been comprehensively debunked. Having said that, the risk is still very low for the young and healthy.

I think going to a restaurant right now is fine if you want to. And fine if you don't. We won't be going because the disruption of having to isolate/test from even a minor bug is so much hassle it doesn't outweigh the benefit.

Businesses need to adapt, some local ones are doing an amazing job and taking on extra staff. Some are not. Of course adaptation can cause difficulties but I don't owe anyone my money/risk taking, they need to provide something that actually benefits me.

Just wanted to point out that going to a restaurant isn't compulsory. Stay at home if you want.

More chance to get a reservation for the rest of us.

We're pretty much back to normal in terms of eating out (not that often & lunch / coffee rather than dinner in our case). There's barely any Covid within an hour's drive of us though, so that plus basic precautions means the risk is miniscule. Whereas the risk to my MH of foregoing life's minor joys is adding up (went back on anti-depressants in lockdown).

@KnobChops

So it’s ‘everybody needs to make their own risk assessment!’ until people have an opinion you disagree with. How dictatorial. I won’t be blaming others (especially those who aren’t following guidelines) if my relative relative loses their life from covid, so don’t blame others for a loss in people’s livelihoods.

ONS estimates that UK is seeing 30,000 new infections a week. That’s not a figure I’m comfortable with for eating out. Clearly the majority of people in this disagree, and that’s fine.

I went out for lunch Tuesday. Was lovely felt safe. Wasnt until yesterday though me and my friend realised neither of us had been asked for track and trace details.
She booked so I assumed she had at the time and I arrived early and she thought I had.
That hasnt so much put me off but made me more cautious.

She booked so I assumed she had at the time and I arrived early and she thought I had.

If your friend booked the restaurant, they had her name and phone number. These details are sufficient for T&T.

[quote Redolent]@KnobChops

So it’s ‘everybody needs to make their own risk assessment!’ until people have an opinion you disagree with. How dictatorial. I won’t be blaming others (especially those who aren’t following guidelines) if my relative relative loses their life from covid, so don’t blame others for a loss in people’s livelihoods.

ONS estimates that UK is seeing 30,000 new infections a week. That’s not a figure I’m comfortable with for eating out. Clearly the majority of people in this disagree, and that’s fine.[/quote]
If you take a more detailed look instead of being hysterical most areas are seeing ZERO covid. You have more chance of being run over on the way to a restaurant.

@KnobChops

You have zero idea what area I live in. You literally couldn’t be more uninformed about my circumstances. In fact, your language sounds like that a rampant misogynist. What next, are you going to accuse women of having ‘the vapours’?

I have a toddler who absolute needs quality social interaction. I’m limiting all my other outside activity so that we can continue going round and staying with her grandparents. That’s infinitely more beneficial to our quality of life than eating out.

Now kindly fuck off.

@winter she booked over facebook not a website. I wouldn't of thought someones Facebook details were enough personally but I dont know.

[quote Redolent]@KnobChops

You have zero idea what area I live in. You literally couldn’t be more uninformed about my circumstances. In fact, your language sounds like that a rampant misogynist. What next, are you going to accuse women of having ‘the vapours’?

I have a toddler who absolute needs quality social interaction. I’m limiting all my other outside activity so that we can continue going round and staying with her grandparents. That’s infinitely more beneficial to our quality of life than eating out.

Now kindly fuck off.[/quote]
You’re a charmer

I’m sure you live in the eye of the storm, yeah ok

I've eaten out twice - once with my Boss, where we had to provide our details, tables were well spaced, staff wore masks and gloves, individual packets of cutlery (and unused cutlery went on top of the dirty dishes, not to be reused), contactless payment.

Second was the family, eating in our local sailing club, slightly less organised but still the protocols in place. They were not wearing masks, but there are a lot of elderly people who go there and cannot hear through masks. Still well spaced out, had to give our contact details, good sanitisation, paid by card etc.

Those were 4 weeks ago and 2 weeks ago.

Our numbers are much lower here than in the UK, but rising again.

I'm not rushing to eat out much, we had tried to book a favourite restaurant (which has a lot of space) for tonight but they are full - so we are getting a good takeaway again instead rather than trying elsewhere (most others locally are much smaller). We didn't eat out at all last week on our holidays - we got fish and chips from the van at the seafront one day, but otherwise cooked for ourselves in the house we were staying in.

An earlier poster referred to ONS figures of 30,000 cases a week. Could you send a link as I can’t find this information.

I’ve been out a few times, using my mask when not at the table eating and have sanitizer at hand.
However, up until recently I worked in a hospital with Covid wards. Was careful, wore a mask and used social distancing ... never caught it (had antibody test).
Although you can never be blasé about the risk, I do feel ok about going out again.
I wouldn’t sit in a pub/bar or cafe that didn’t take it seriously though or if I was in an area that was crowded I’d be out of there.
Some people are just taking stupid risks but I think there’s a happy balance, where you can have some normality (and help the economy/independent shops) .

Thanks userxx 😊 It’s not much fun constantly wearing masks in the heat either at the moment. It’s 36 degrees here today 😓

We've still enjoyed eating out. In some ways I currently,prefer it re not cramped in, everyone pre books so there's no waiting for tables and everything feels super clean and orderly.

I've even been to a couple of bars and again it was great as you've got a guaranteed table and chair, no standing around, no going to the bar, table service and everywhere is less busy so don't feel crammed in or overlooked.

I've found eating out much more pleasant than shopping, which does seem to be still busy and less chance of social distancing happening.

It's only our local pub where bar staff don't wear masks - but they're behind a shield, or at least 2m away. The serving staff wear masks though. And all the other restaurants and cafes staff have worn masks.

Again, unlike in shops where staff don't need masks or visors.

I was surprised at the hairdressers that they didn't have masks, only visors. Customers have to wear masks, but not the hair dressers themselves. Which did surprise me.

The 50% off didn’t make it as cheap as we thought and we only had soft drinks.

It's only 50% up,to,a set amount per person, £10 I think.

With our local pub where we've always gone for a cheap pub tea once a week we are deliberately not going Monday to Wednesday. We are going later in the week to pay full price as concerned some places might be empty at the end if the week otherwise,

I had a wobble a few weeks ago and went out for something to eat and it 'broke' the cycle of being at home and not going out much

I did similar, I was getting over cautious - I am clinically vulnerable but not quite in the shielded group - and, knowing that come September I would be back in class with 270 children with no SD each week, I decided I needed to break the cycle of not venturing anywhere and being too nervous to do stuff. Going out for dinner and a drink with dh and a couple of friends helped break the cycle. I've since been abroad in holiday, eaten out, used public transport, etc. and feel I am on the way back to some form of normality, all be it with precautions, social distancing and masks.

So come September it's not going to be the massive shock to the system as it could have been, though I do admit the lack of precautions for a primary school still bother me somewhat!

To be fair schools haven't reopened yet simple because it's the summer holidays! We can't blame that in pubs and restaurants, or even the government. In Scotland they reopen next week and in England the first week of September - as they would normally do.

'The car is more dangerous thing has been comprehensively debunked.'

@Nextity the risk of dying in a RTA 'in the UK approaches 1 in 20,000, the lifetime risk is 1 in 240. In the Ukraine it is 1 in 80.'

And it's rising www.nimblefins.co.uk/whats-likelihood-getting-car-accident-uk

Dying of CV if you're undr 45 'one in 66,666.'

Obviously you need to actually get CV to die from it.
Most of us get in a car daily.

Everything we do is a balance of risk. Drinking alcohol for example

'The Million Women Study, a study of 1.3 million women run by the University of Oxford, estimated that each additional alcoholic drink regularly consumed per day was associated with 11 additional breast

cancers per 1000 women up to age 75 (5).'

www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/news/blog-alcohol-and-breast-cancer/?gclid=CjwKCAjw97P5BRBQEiwAGflV6aE6KacgSLiQEJ35s3NN4n_FWPsZqrdp5OJFudqcG-6dXgIZcIWg9xoCKHQQAvD_BwE

I wonder if the people who are so concerned about their health as regards CV are also teetotal. Because surely you can see that statistically your health is more likely to be affected adversely by drinking than it is from CV .

You would also be doing everything possible to avoid obesity/ Type diabetes not only to reduce the risks of CV but for your health generally

Risk calculator here riskscore.diabetes.org.uk/start?gclid=CjwKCAjw97P5BRBQEiwAGflV6Qf1vBFOCxalJHTyzo8K71191160khBZ1Fomp9gEUue_nyJIymftaRoCZA8QAvD_BwE

And you would definitely not smoke or sun bathe

Most of us will drink alcohol (in moderation).

If you have particular risk factors for breast cancer like a genetic history you would be v wise to limit your consumption.

Same with CV, unless you are particularly vulnerable you will balance your risk.

Going out to eat with current measures in place is no more risky than going shopping which I still think is the riskiest thing you can do.

@nostaples you haven't quoted your source for that statistic...