NEW data has revealed the extent of the spending in Essex during the Eat Out To Help Out scheme last year.
The government scheme was introduced to help hospitality venues recover from the huge blow of the first national lockdown.
The campaign ran from August 3 to August 31, offering customers the chance to halve their bills at many of their favourite restaurants, pubs, bars and more, with the businesses able to claim the savings back from HM Revenue and Customers.
But it has since come under heavy criticism for encouraging large numbers of people out into public places during the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more:
- Eat Out to Help Out: Platform Two Café named the best
- High street, shopping centres or retail parks? Here's where shoppers went in August
- Eat Out To Help Out: Wetherspoons to continue offering discounts
In England, 50,592 restaurants took advantage of the government scheme with 90,008,000 meals claimed for.
This meant a total of £517,102,000 was claimed in discounts, with the average amount claimed at each outlet standing at £10,200.
The average discount per meal was £5.75.
**The data only covers outlets with less than 25 outlets as large chains were not required to publish the details. Values for the total number of meals claimed for and the total amount of discount claimed have been rounded to the nearest thousand. Average claimed discount per outlet is rounded to the nearest 100.**
Here is how much people in each part of Essex spent whilst the scheme was running ordered by how many meals were claimed:
The data is sorted by local authority area.
Southend
Residents of Southend claimed the most number of meals in Essex, 360,000.
There were 196 different restaurants who claimed using the scheme too, with restaurants claiming an average of £10,300.
The total amount of discount given out was just over £2 million.
The average discount per meal was £5.60.
Colchester
In Colchester a total of 169 restaurants took part in the scheme.
Residents claimed for 334,000 meals, saving a total of £1,774,000.
Each outlet claimed an average of £10,500 with the average cost of a meal claim £5.31.
Chelmsford
People saved £1,963,000 by using the scheme in Chelmsford, Essex's only city.
A total of 326,000 meals were claimed using the scheme, with an average saving of £6.01.
Each restaurant involved, of which there were 153, claimed an average of £12,800.
Epping Forest
Epping Forst was next with 221,000 claims for meals made, saving residents £1,441,000.
A total of 126 restaurants took part, with an average saving of £6.51 per meal.
Tendring
The scheme was used a total of 207,000 times across Tendring.
Residents saved a total of £1,067,000, an average of £5.14 per meal.
119 restaurants took part, claiming an average of £9,000 each.
Thurrock
Residents of Thurrock saved a total of £907,000 using the scheme.
A total of 205,000 meals were claimed using the scheme receiving an average discount of £4.62.
The 78 restaurants which took part claimed an average of £12,100.
Basildon
The scheme was used a total of 199,000 times in Basildon when it was running.
Residents saved a total of £972,000 at an average of £4.88 each time.
The 77 restaurants which took part claimed an average of £12,600 each.
Braintree The scheme was used on 150,000 meals in Braintree.
This saved £852,000 with an average meal saving of £5.69.
Exactly 100 restaurants took part, claiming £8,500 each on average.
Maldon
Residents of Maldon saved £775,000, an average of £6.03 meal.
Eat Out To Help Out was used on 128,000 meals in the district at 47 restaurants.
Each restaurant claimed an average of £10,200.
Uttlesford
Uttlesford was next on the list.
A total of 123,000 meals were claimed using the scheme at an average saving of £5.49.
Residents of the area saved £677,000 and the 86 restaurant claimed £7,900 on average each.
Harlow
The scheme was used on 108,000 occasions in Harlow, saving a total of £494,000.
The average saving per meal was £4.56 with 38 restaurants taking part, claiming £13,000 on average.
Brentwood
Residents of Brentwood saved £637,000 with 90,000 meals claimed for in total.
The average meal discount was £7.09 whilst the 65 restaurant claimed an average of £9,800.
Castle Point
The scheme was used on 84,000 meals in Castle Point.
Residents saved a total of £395,000 with an average meal saving of £4.73.
The 52 restaurants claimed an average of £7,600.
Rochford
The scheme was used least in the Rochford area, where it was used for 71,000 meals.
The total saving was £436,000 with an average meal saving of £6.16.
The 47 restaurants who took part claimed an average of £9,300 each.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel