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.

@FinallyRelief

Oh I just said same to DH.

I was expecting staff to wear masks - we ate outdoors. They didn't ask for our details I voluntarily filled them in on their website online

The staff didn't SD and they put on outdoor heaters. Food was great as it's a local gastro pub but all staff mingling - really didn't feel safe at all.

What's wrong with outdoor heaters?

@cyclemania

I can't get my head around the idea we view other people now to be 'dirty' and 'infected'. if that isn't a clear way to make people turn on each other, I don't know what is. this is not healthy for our society.

Exactly. This is why I think SD in schools is so potentially damaging. Encouraging our children to treat each other as diseased for an illness that the huge majority of them won’t even have. It’s completely fucked up.

Same here, no more eating out, no more take away, no more indoor soft play (or other indoor activities).

Tbh the way I live has completely changed and I’m alright with losing things like meals out/days out etc. We’ve discovered the local country parks, nature walks and picnics and won’t be going back to how things were before lockdown.

What’s wrong with takeaway? Takeaways have been opened throughout and there are no confirmed cases of the virus being transmitted via food or food packaging.

Depends how much you value going out and being with someone

Two households allowed so I will meet a friend when I am able (kids elsewhere). It's a lifeline to me... I don't care about the precautions , sanitiser, contact details. I am pleased to see my friend and support local business. M
If you are just going out with someone you live with don't bother then!

I never heard anyone in authority say don't go on a pub crawl. (or "do not visit more than one leisure venue' as they would probably have put it!) Maybe missed it.

Yes it's obvious if you are thoughtful but for example my adult child living at home thought it was a perfectly normal idea when the pubs opened here, until I said no way!

They keep overestimating the existence of common sense. Plus they seem to not know how people actually behave in context. See Cheltenham, Anfield Euro match..

There's a huge difference in infection rates in different areas at the moment; our borough has a handful (or less) of cases each week with none in our immediate area for 2 months now. Being frightened of infection at a restaurant staffed by locals would be a massive over-reaction; I wouldn't be comfortable if there was no distancing but it looks very safe how the restaurants and pubs are actually operating. Some other areas have hundreds of new infections each week; at that level we'd stay home. So I've sympathy with either position, but suggest people actively look at infection rates and adjust their actions according to the real risks in each area. We need an economy and we emotionally all need some normality while we can.

@SengaStrawberry takeaway because I don’t see the point in exposing myself to another person (whether it’s being delivered or you collect in store). Two takeaways in my area refused to leave the food at the door, I had to open the door and take it off the person despite having requested a contact free delivery - idk who that delivery driver has been exposed to. Plus takeaway is shite, I’ve can cook our favourites far better and far healthier at home.

I have been and sat outside at a cafe locally which always has had a good standards as far as I can tell. It was pleasant on a sunny day.

That’s not a brag btw, I’m an alright cook but far from brilliant. There’s a heap of easy recipies online that show you how to cook your favourite takeaways from home

Boggled I agree that you don't have to be any great shakes to eat better at home most of the time! It's nice to have someone else do it for you once in a whole though!

I’ve been to both my local pubs to eat and also went in M&S cafe yesterday. All were perfectly fine tbh, albeit it was pretty annoying in M&S because of lots of dithery people waiting around for their drinks and not getting out of the way for the rest of us.

The pubs were great and I felt really safe and bloody loved having table service instead of having to go up and down to the bar to order stuff. Didn’t use loos so cant comment on what that felt like. All contact details were taken, staff wore masks, the tables were spaced far apart. It was fine.

@Augustseemsbetter I definitely agree about it being nice to have someone else do the cooking, I’m not 100% sure I won’t go back to takeaways when my financial situation is a bit better too! But for now I’m happy enough eating at home, even if the kids are turning their noses up at almost every meal

Yes the cost is extortionate. Thinking about it when I went to the cafe I had ...a coffee!

Mine are now old enough to make a fair bit for themselves thank goodness. Even if it's mostly just a sandwich.

I've been out for two family meals in a week. The first was fine. It was indoors but everything was sanitized between groups and all the staff wore masks. Everyone was respectful of social distancing. The second not so good was while we were on holiday. We wore masks while we were queuing to get in & as as we walked through the building to the garden - everyone stared. The staff didn't wear masks, there was no social distancing between staff or customers (though the tables were placed well apart, people wandered) and the tables and menus weren't cleaned. The food was amazing and really cheap with the eoho discount but I won't be repeating the experience. It felt very unsafe, though we were probably at higher risk of giving it to someone else than catching it as the incidence is much lower here.

People are deluding themselves thinking that social distancing indoors works in this situation. If you're sat in the vicinity of a covid sufferer indoors in an enclosed space for a prolonged period chances are good that it will circulate to you.

Funny what OP said about shopping seems safe but not restaurant.

In a shop I am indoors & I circulate a lot & everyone wears masks which reminds me that we're suppose to treat each other like toxic waste. In a restaurant I only interact with my co-diners (who I am bubbled with) and just barely with the staff. We are outside for dining. Shop: repeated long queues, restaurant: maybe no queues. Restaurant feels like a hugely lower contact place to me than any shop.

However, the menu prices were daft. I know they have more staff on to explain the higher prices, but honestly, without the govt subsidy, not good value for money at all.

esvee I would be wary inside, especially if places have air-conditioning.

@lljkk It's more that in a restaurant you're sat in the same enclosed place for a significant length of time. The 2 metre rule is unlikely to help if someone at the next table has it. In a shop you're rarely near the same person for very long at all, much lower risk in my opinion.

@lljkk obviously dining outside is a different thing. I think everyone knows thats much lower risk.

I'm loving this 50% off scheme! I'm
More annoyed that I've been invited out for lunch today, when it's not on!

I've eaten out at 3 places since we've been able to. I would go back to one of them any time and another I would try again. I wouldn't touch the third with a barge pole.

Ist - took names and numbers on arrival, open air, masses of space between tables, lots of shade, cleaning regularly, code for ordering and paying using phone on table, table service, staff kept their distance, sanitiser in loos and 2 at a time only (was a posh portaloo cabin). I've been there twice and it was lovely.

2nd - took names and numbers, outside (not as much space as the first one, but ok), staff wore masks. The only thing that wasn't so great was that you had to go in to pub to order, but they had a one way system in place.

3rd - outside, sanitiser on entry, gave names and numbers, didn't have to go in to order food or pay. However the tables were in the same place as they always are and social distancing was very tricky. We chose a table that looked a bit further from others, but it was too near to the paying area where people queued the entire time we were there. For some reason hardly anyone made an attempt to social distancing and there were groups of older teenagers at tables who were clearly not from the same household. Didn't enjoy it at all and decided just to have a drink in the end and leave.

Personally I wouldn't eat or drink inside at the moment, so most restaurants are unavailable to us right now.

Sorry, meant to say, we haven't used the 50% offers at all.

I am finding increasingly that in situations where I am indoors and there is a high density of people I instinctively feel unsafe and want to leave

The indoor dining, the tables have been very spaced apart, that I get to see.