It really is astonishing, the uptake. I naively wandered out early on Wednesday evening to grab my first sit down pizza in a restaurant for months, only to find my local Franco Manca fully occupied and a wait time of 90 minutes plus.
It is amazing what a lure £10 a head off a restaurant bill can be - especially for families or other groups.
Coupled with the temporary 5% VAT reprieve that my fellow partner Heather Corben describes in her blog post here, the battered hospitality industry has been given a helping hand.
Businesses do need to remember, however, that it is not free cash in their hands and that they need to keep proper records and bring this trading subsidy into their tax accounts.
David Page owner of the Franco Manca pizza chain says that the first three days of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme has been "astonishing"
https://www.egi.co.uk/news/eat-out-helps-out-restaurants-but-bills-may-still-close-branches/