Almost 1.2 million meals were sold in Cornwall as part of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme during August with customers saving more than £6.6 million.

Information has now been released showing how many restaurants took part in every parliamentary constituency in the UK and how many meals they sold.

It indicates that in Cornwall a total of 1,178,000 meals were sold on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays through August, when the scheme ran offering 50 per cent off food and and soft drinks, up to a maximum of £10.

A total of 988 restaurants, pubs and cafes signed up here and were able to claim back the 50 per cent discount from the government, with a total of £6,670,000 customer savings refunded in Cornwall.

Read next: LISTED - Cornwall restaurants taking part in Eat Out To Help Out

The constituency where most meals were sold was North Cornwall, where 266,000 meals were claimed for worth £1.5 million in refunds to the 188 businesses that signed up, followed by St Ives - which includes Helston, The Lizard and the rest of West Cornwall - with 250,000 meals worth £1.4 million to 195 businesses and then St Austell and Newquay, with 249,000 meals worth £1.3 million to 186 businesses.

In Truro and Falmouth 186 businesses sold 176,000 meals, claiming back more than £1 million, while 119 Camborne and Redruth businesses sold 128,000 meals worth £747,000, with South East Cornwall claiming the fewest with 109,000 meals worth £606,000 to 114 businesses.

On average, each registered restaurant in Cornwall claimed 1,192 discounted meals – 92 a day for the 13 eligible days – more than any other county in the region.

The full table can be found below, which also includes the average discount received by customers.

Nationally, more than100 million meals were claimed across the UK, including 6.7 million in the south west.

The government has also said that data from OpenTable shows bookings increased by an average of 52 per cent on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the whole of August, compared to the same days in 2019.

The hospitality industry will continue to receive a temporary discount to VAT, from 20 per cent to 5 per cent, until January 12, 2021.

Table of data from Cornwall's restaurants

It reads, from left to right: parliamentary constituency; total number of registered restaurants; total number of meals claimed for ; total amount of discount claimed (£); average discount per meal (£).

Camborne and Redruth 119 128,000 747,000 5.83

North Cornwall 188 266,000 1,505,000 5.66

South East Cornwall 114 109,000 606,000 5.55

St Austell and Newquay 186 249,000 1,346,000 5.41

St Ives 195 250,000 1,431,000 5.72

Truro and Falmouth 186 176,000 1,035,000 5.88

_______

South West 6,771 6,778,000 35,022,000 5.17