Portsmouth diners claimed nearly £2m during Eat Out To Help Out scheme

The scheme, which was designed to give struggling hospitality businesses a financial boost during the pandemic, saw foodies across the country dine out for a fraction of the usual cost.

The government picked up 50 per cent of the bill, up to £10 per person, three days a week throughout August.

Figures released today from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs show more than 106m meals were claimed for across the UK, totalling over £611m.

Diners in Portsmouth claimed 354,000 meals across 196 restaurants under the scheme, with a total discount of £1,998,000.

This provided an average discount of £5.65 per meal.

In Gosport 42 venues took part, with 61,000 meals provided and £302,000 in discounts claimed.

Havant diners snapped up £337,000 in discounts across 83,000 meals at 51 venues.

In Fareham, 50 venues took part with diners claiming £401,000 in discounts across 78,000 meals.

The data only includes registered businesses with fewer than 25 outlets.

UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: ‘The Eat Out To Help Out scheme is now unfortunately a deep and distant memory in light of the subsequent restrictions and enforced closures suffered by so many businesses.

‘These numbers highlight how the sector grabbed this opportunity and played its part in rebuilding customer confidence in eating and drinking out and helped power the wider economy.

‘Hospitality can play this role again and is desperate to do so once restrictions are lifted by offering safe and controlled environments for consumers to come back together.’

HM Treasury said the scheme brought back over 400,000 people from furlough but did not specify whether it, or something similar, would return in the future.

A spokesperson for the Treasury said: ‘As we have done throughout the pandemic, we have worked with creativity and at pace to support individuals and businesses.

‘We designed The Eat Out to Help Out scheme to protect 2 million jobs in hospitality, an industry whose employees are at high risk of long-term unemployment in the event of redundancy.

‘It protected jobs across the UK by bringing back 400,000 people from furlough whilst safely restoring consumer confidence.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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