Restaurants across Bristol are booked almost solid as the last day of Eat Out to Help Out coincides with Bank Holiday Monday.
Bristol Live tried to find free tables at more than 30 restaurants in the city for today (Monday, August 31), and only seven of those still had slots left as of 11am this morning.
The government's half-price food scheme has been running on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout August, to encourage people to get back out into food and drink establishments after the coronavirus lockdown.
It has proven to be extremely popular and some Bristol restaurants are continuing the discount scheme into September, of their own accord.
Of the 32 restaurants we selected at random to check for availability, these still had evenings slots free according to the booking facilities on their respective websites:
- Zizzi Clifton
- Las Iguanas Harbourside
- The Cottage Inn
- Urban Bar and Kitchen
- Hotel du Vin
- Quay Street Diner (between 3pm to 5pm)
- Harbour & Brown
Social distancing measures mean that most restaurants have had to significantly reduce their capacity.
Some have reconfigured their space and have managed to actually expand capacity, however, including Quay Street Diner in the city centre.
Front of house manager Siim Naaris said they have created more space by using outdoor seating.
The diner has just announced that it will be extending the half-price food offer into September.
Siim said: "With the scheme, I think people are using the opportunity much more to eat out.
"It has been unexpectedly busy - we knew it would be busy, but not like this, and it isn't slowing down.
"We used to have some down time between breakfast and brunch."
He said today (Bank Holiday Monday), they have taken more bookings than they have all month.
Explaining why they had decided to continue offering discount in September, Siim added: "A lot of the big chains have announced they will be.
"I think it would be foolish not to."
See here for a list of chains offering the extension, and here for independents.
