UK restaurant bookings jump after indoor dining restarts

Restaurant bookings surged in Britain when coronavirus rules eased on Monday to allow indoor dining for the first time in months, the country’s statistics office said on Thursday.

Restaurant reservations rose to 73% of their level two years ago, before the pandemic, in the week to May 17, which included just one day under the new rules. This was up from 60% the previous week, according to figures from booking website OpenTable produced for the Office for National Statistics.

The proportion of employees on the government’s job-supporting furlough scheme also fell to 10% in late April and early May, down from 11% two weeks earlier and its lowest since the start of the year, the ONS said.