Eating out with more than 2 households

[Jungfraujoch]

Specifically in a restaurant - what is your experience where you live? Are people doing this, going against the Gov guidelines? How can restaurants police it anyway?

To confirm I’m not doing this but wonder if I’m being over cautious now as people seem to be doing it anyway and going away for a weekend in a group made up of different households.

I ate out with friends recently, 4 individuals from 4 households. If restaurants tried to police it I expect they’d quickly run out of business/lose customer goodwill.

DH walked past a pub the other day and there were lots of tables of 6, I doubt they were all from 2 families.

Households not families

Wait what? I thought it was 6 households?

@Juanmorebeer

Wait what? I thought it was 6 households?

It’s two.

I also suspect lots of people are doing this. It's not against the law so would be hard to properly enforce.

I’m going out tonight with friends.
The restaurant has not asked if we’re from separate households.

I have just looked it up yes you are right it is 6 households outdoors but just 2 indoors.

www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-people-from-outside-your-household-from-4-july

I work in a restaurant the rule is six people from up to two households indoors, six people from up to six households outside. We do ask every booking and walk in but we can't police beyond that.

I have personally turned down invitations that break this rule but I'm feeling I'm in the minority😔

I’m not quite sure how many, I thought it was 2, it was 2 a couple of months ago, I lost the plot a bit with it all as there are a lot of changes all the while, households haven’t been mentioned for ages by the government apart from local lockdown areas

My experience where I live is that yes restaurants have been fully booked for weeks and definitely lots of mixing households. Restaurants do not check when you book or turn up either.

I'm not breaking the guidelines, it does feel like many people are but plenty of mouthy people shout a lot whilst quietly I assume lots of people are just toeing the line.

I've done it. Restaurants don't check. They need the business I think.

I am fairly relaxed about it all but DH recently didn't go for a meal with friends 7 or 8 from different households. To me it was 8 people from different areas with differing degrees of contacts and it just seemed to tip over the edge of what I felt comfortable with.

We ate at a restaurant on Monday and there were 10 of us from 3 different households. I actually thought 6 households could meet and nobody said anything.

I have asked a few friends who work in hospitality this afternoon what they do about this abd they said there is nothing at all they can do as everyone has to book in advance online so they just turn up as a group.

Restaurants can't police it and most people have completely lost track of what the rules are now anyway.

Depends where you live...I’m in Manchester and that’s not allowed under the enhanced restrictions

We broke the rules the other week when we went out with my mum, a friend of hers and us, so three households. We were sort of bubbled with my mum but I think she's been "bubbling" with other single people too, like the friend who went out with us. But they're the elderly and more vulnerable ones, so really the risk is down to them to decide on, rather than us. I would have sat outside but my mum said it was too cold. However, the tables inside were well spaced.

Thanks all for your views and comments.

Maybe I’m being a bit over cautious then, but I’m also just trying to stick to the guidelines!

You don't need to stick to the household though so its a daft rule anyway. You could go for breakfast with 1 household, brunch with another, dinner with another, afternoon tea with another, tea with another and finish the day off in the pub with god knows how many strangers!

I just came on here to ask this. I am also in the minority. A work friend has put a message asking about going out for a meal in a restaurant soon (she is proposing 5 friends including her so all from 5 different households). Everyone has said yes except me and I was wondering if I was being unreasonable. I have ate out twice in large breezy restaurants with members of my own immediate family In the last month. And I have met up twice socially distant with these friends in gardens on a nice day. But the thought of being indoors especially if the restaurant isn’t too choosy about how many households they allow to meet up I am uneasy about it so I am about to message to decline. The friend organising it justifies everything by saying she is in a bubble with X and in a bubble with Y. She lives with her husband and has two children both now back at school. She reckons she is in a bubble with her sister and sisters family, her younger child’s friends parents (who have two children for childcare support and playdates), one of her single unmarried friends and thats just the ones I know about and in a social bubble with us. I keep seeing photos of people on facebook on holiday with three or four households and six or more households out for a meal posing for a photo with arms around each other. I know each to their own but feel out of step and as I am in my fifties, overweight with asthma I am worried about autumn and winter anyway.

My family want to see each other again at the same time. We just booked three tables outdoors so we can still do that but do it safely with each household on their own table.

Yes it would be hard booking 5 small tables side by side though.

I'm going out for dinner then a few bars with 4 friends tomorrow night, all diff households. I think most people are tbh.