Centre for Cities has analysed data from August to see if the Government’s attempt to keep the hospitality sector ticking over, Eat Out to Help Out, was a success or not.
The data that they analysed showed that on average across the country, the scheme had been effective in encouraging people to come out and support their local restaurants.
However, the data suggests that people were already out and were choosing to get food while they were there rather than the wider aim of encouraging people back on to the Highstreet.
Sales did increase at a significant level, even though the increase in footfall was only slightly raised, suggesting that people were spending more because of the scheme.
The wider issue of getting people back into city centres seems to be a positive one also, as the increases in sales and footfall evened out over the course of the week, showing that the public’s confidence had been raised not just because of the monetary reward of the scheme.
Places such as London also saw a lower than average increase across the board, the report reasons that this is because a large amount of workers in London are still working from home and aren’t able to take advantage of the scheme after work.
