I am hearing from a lot of people that restaurant business is slowing dramatically over the past 4 months or so.
Belfast Live [online news page on social media] is constantly carrying stories about eating places closing down in the city.
A fish and chip shop we go to regular basis recently started to skimp on the size of the fish. We put it down to a bad night and left it a month to see if it was a blip. Went back there last weekend and it was same poor serving of the fish and the chips had been cooked in a different oil. They were not nearly as nice. The price has stayed the same but they are obviously trying to make the profit from skimping on the quality. We have made the decision not to go back as it was already expensive for a monthly treat.
Last night we got a luxury brand cottage pie from the super-market. It was lovely and still less than half price of what our fish and chips would have cost.
Eating out is a treat we can easily go without, especially when so many of them implemented the vaccine pass and never attempted to fight it.