Welwyn Hatfield restaurant owner ‘surprised’ at success of Eat Out to Help Out scheme

The Tilbury in Datchworth is owned by Tom and James Bainbridge. Picture: Supplied by Becky Alexander (Image: Archant)

The scheme, which offers 50 per cent off food and soft drinks (up to £10 per head) on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, will stop running at the end of the month.

We spoke to the owner The White Hart, Welwyn, and The Tilbury, Datchworth, to see if scheme has really been helping out.

James Bainbridge, who runs the restaurants with his brother, said: “We have been surprised with how successful the uptake has been on the days it is offered. The scheme has been running smoothly and was made very clear in advance how we need to execute it and the information we need to have to make our claim back.

“We have seen a huge rise in demand on the early part of the week but this has been followed with slight decrease in demand on the later part of the week which we had expected.

The White Hart (Image: Archant)

“We reopened one of our sites on a Tuesday and has been fully booked for both Tuesdays nights so far as well as Wednesday lunch and dinner being full. We decided to not open our second sight on Monday or Tuesday as it would not suit the logistics of how we have had to restructure our teams after coming out of lockdown.”

Restaurants, cafés, bars or pubs, work and school canteens and food halls are all eligible in the scheme.

You can find a list of establishments taking part in Welwyn Hatfield by visiting here.

James added: “I hope this will create more opportunity than to just have some extra busy days and give exposure of our product which we are very proud of, to people that may have not tried us in the past. We have worked hard to keep our product at the high level we strive for whilst implementing many measures to ensure the safety of our teams and guests. We have had some great feedback on how we have made the environment feel very safe but at the same time maintain some normality to going out for a meal.

The Tilbury in Datchworth is owned by Tom and James Bainbridge. Picture: Supplied by Becky Alexander (Image: Archant)

“The eat out to help out scheme has been an interesting offer so far and is hopefully going to boost the public’s confidence in going out and realising the hospitality industry has in most parts worked incredibly hard to adapt to the new normal and give the public a safe and relaxed environment to go out again and enjoy some much needed break from being at home.”