Southport BID is urging people to enjoy meals out with as much as 50% off bills throughout August.

The Government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme launches today (Monday, 3 August).
Over 100 Southport restaurants, cages, bars and hotels have signed up to the initiative which will see customers enjoy discounts on all food and non-alcoholic drinks consumed on the premises.

Dozens of local, independent businesses in Southport are taking part, along with chains including Bistrot Pierre, Dobbies and Nando’s.

The scheme, part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Plan for Jobs, is designed to protect jobs in the hospitality sector and help them to rebuild from the Coronavirus lockdown.

Since they reopened last month, food and beverage businesses in Southport have been working hard to make themselves Covid secure and safe for customers to enjoy with a range of measures including more outdoor seating, contactless payments, face masks or visors for staff, and additional hand sanitisers in premises.

Southport BID CEO Rachel Fitzgerald said: “This is a great initiative from the Government to help provide a boost for a particularly hard-hit sector.

“We hope people will take advantage of the discount on offer over the coming weeks, all while staying within the social distancing guidelines of course.

“Not only are there great deals around, but it is a much-needed boost for local restaurants and cafes.

“We all have to work together as a community to help our town and businesses come through the current crisis.”

Ra, an Egyptian themed bar and restaurant on Lord Street, is among Southport businesses taking part.

Ra manageress Kelly Bond said: “Ra are delighted to be part of the scheme. We believe it will benefit not only those businesses that have been so affected by current events, but also those people who were furloughed or have faced unemployment as a result too. It has been a tough financial time for us all and the Eat Out to Help Out initiative can perhaps give those unable to fund eating out to do so affordably.

“We still have to be cautious of course but in recent weeks it has been truly wonderful seeing people in our venue once again, enjoying meals they haven’t had to cook themselves - saving the hassle of the washing up! - and enjoying their first ‘post lockdown pint’. We like to hope morale has been boosted for all our customers old and new when they choose to spend time dining and drinking with us!

“We have decorated the exterior of our venue to allow for a pleasant surrounding now that more people than usual desire to sit outside and of course we are still adhering to Government guidelines in regards to keeping everywhere distanced and clean.

“I really implore people to experience local restaurants during the month of August.
“During the month of August please think bigger picture, champion the little not the large, and support the local businesses that need you most.”
Susannah Porter owns Remedy, which has cafes on Lord Street in Southport and Botanic Road in Churchtown.

She said: “The Eat Out to Help out scheme is a real bargain for customers.
“We sell the best coffee and cake in Southport and now it is half price!
“Our brilliant, high quality breakfast in Churchtown is now just £4.75.”

Anyone visiting a participating restaurant, café or pub on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout August will receive the half price discount – keeping more money in hardworking families’ pockets and giving a vital boost to the UK’s hospitality sector.

The scheme applies to all food and non-alcoholic drinks, with a maximum discount per person of £10. It could save a family of four up to £40 per meal.

There have already been over 3.3 million hits on the Eat Out to Help Out restaurant finder since it launched last week, which shows what businesses are participating in local areas, and many restaurants have since seen a boost in bookings. Apps like Opentable, Fork and Bookatable are all planning pages to support the scheme.

The scheme will help protect the jobs of the hospitality industry’s 1.8 million employees by encouraging people to safely return to their local restaurants, cafes and pubs where social-distancing rules allow.

Around 80% of hospitality firms stopped trading in April, with 1.4 million workers furloughed, the highest of any sector.

Many participating restaurants offer healthy and low-calorie options, and the scheme should be enjoyed as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. No vouchers are needed, with the participating establishment deducting 50% from the bill.

People may be worried about returning to eat out. To address these concerns, businesses have prepared to become Covid-secure through, for example, protective screens, contactless payments, social distancing, one way walking systems, online bookings and reduced capacity.

The second wave is about to descend upon us, we don’t have the ‘world beating’ track and trace we were promised and they’re now going to pay us to sit in restaurants?
LET THE CULL BEGIN!

Originally Posted by donkey22

The second wave is about to descend upon us, we don’t have the ‘world beating’ track and trace we were promised and they’re now going to pay us to sit in restaurants?
LET THE CULL BEGIN!

Bet you will be proved wrong!!

Originally Posted by paulollie

Bet you will be proved wrong!!

About what? We were promised test and trace would be up and running by the start of June. The phone app broke the day it was released, before finally getting abandoned.

I went out yesterday to maybe use the scheme and support local businesses and bought a school uniform for my young son from a lovely little shop on Eastbank St.
The big idea was to see how full the subway was and maybe if it’s not so full we would chance sitting in although I wasn’t in favour of this from the start.
There were too many people in it for me so we looked around a bit and everywhere was the same, people looked happy sat together mask less eating their dinner in other people’s air back to back thinking they were somehow now safe.
It is important to gradually redress the balance between health and the economy but on one side of the scale is getting your dinner half price and on the other side is the increased chance of dying on a ventilator when they switch it off because they need it for someone else so on balance I thought it best to get a subway from a quieter location, pay the full price, stay safe and still support local business and get out as quick as possible.
One thing I did notice though is it’s mostly the older generation that are taking this seriously, they are the ones walking around even outside in the fresh air wearing masks, it may be because they are most at risk or it may be that they have been through a war only to survive this long using common sense and making sound decisions using all the information available.
At the moment the information available suggests that some parts of the world are in the middle of a second wave while in others they are still dying like flies in their thousands from the first wave, travel restrictions and quarantine by the FCO have been put in place lately, City’s and towns are increasingly being locked back down as our R rate is rising significantly, there’s news talk about keeping schools closed to re open businesses Or the other way around ( I don’t understand this either ) in some kind of balance attempt and now you must wear masks at all times in public unless you are sat in the middle of a large crowd eating your dinner and this is encouraged and sponsored.
It’s obvious to me we will have a second wave and won’t get onto it until it’s too late so for me if they end up giving away dinners for free they can keep em.