Coronavirus: How Essex claimed during Eat Out To Help Out

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.

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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.

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Esse

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 town centre from above

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 city centre

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.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak launched Eat Out To Help Out in August. Picture: PA

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.

Clacton Pier from above

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.

Lakeside is in Thurrock but big chains are not included in the figures

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 town centre

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 Village

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 High Street

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.

A man walks past a sign outside a restaurant in Battle, East Sussex, ahead of a national lockdown for England from Thursday..

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.

A sign advising on wearing face coverings at a tram stop in Manchester. Cities in northern England and other areas suffering a surge in Covid-19 cases may have pubs and restaurants temporarily closed to combat the spread of the virus..

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 High Street

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.

canvey town centre.

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 town centre

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.