Monday sees another milestone in the reopening of the economy - people in most of the UK will be able to go to a bar or restaurant and eat indoors, APA reports citing BBC.
But some favourite haunts will no longer be there: over the last year, thousands of establishments have closed, latest surveys indicate.
Across Britain, there are 9.7% fewer restaurants to choose from, compared with before the pandemic. And mid-market "casual dining" venues have fallen by 19.4%.
The data in the latest Market Recovery Monitor from CGA and AlixPartners suggests that while many pubs and bars have also struggled to survive the pandemic, it is restaurants that have fared worst.
That includes places such as Falafilo Island opened in 2018 by Oskar Ali and his wife in Newport in Wales.
"We had so many lovely customers, but corona just hit us so hard, we had to close," Oskar told BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme.
They hoped a busy Christmas might save them, but Oskar's wife caught Covid and they had to isolate for two weeks.
"Then it was January and we thought: we should just close," he says. "We couldn't survive, even with the grants they gave." You can read more on the restaurants lost in the pandemic here.
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