Cheap Monday to Wednesday dining!
17th July 2020
Posted in Articles, Coronavirus by Andrew Marr
The issue
Details have now been released about how the new catchy ‘eat out to help out’ scheme will work:
This is the scheme which involves diners being offered 50% discounts (capped at £10 per person) between Monday and Wednesday each week. The restaurant will then be able to reclaim the discounts from HMRC and will apparently be paid within 5 working days.
More detail
This scheme is effectively only available to venues which offer eat-in dining and will not apply to mobile takeout vans which put a few seats outside. Contrary to some rumours, there is no restriction on customer use of the scheme and it should be possible for an individual to benefit from a £30 discount for each Monday to Wednesday between 3 August and 31 August (assuming they eat out a lot and have expensive breakfast tastes!). As the offer only applies to food and non-alcoholic drinks it will not (sadly) be possible to sit in a restaurant and enjoy four half-price beers.
Forbes Dawson comment
Although August is often a quiet month this deal should subsidise quite a few ‘staycations’ if used properly. A family of four would be £120 better off if they dine-out on Monday to Wednesday. Hopefully this scheme will not be subject to the high level of fraudulent claims that took place in relation to the coronavirus job retention scheme although the fact that the income will still be subject to VAT and income tax (or corporation tax) should hopefully guard against this.
On a positive note I have just heard that McDonald’s will be joining the scheme and so from Monday to Wednesday (from 3 August) you can enjoy six Big Macs for a tenner – but only if you eat in – and are extremely greedy!
