AN online database has been launched listing the restaurants and cafes offering the Eat Out to Help Out.

The scheme offers half-price meals throughout August from today, as part of a government scheme aimed at boosting restaurants and pubs post-lockdown.

Those wanting to take advantage of the offer of up to £10 off the price of food and non-alcoholic drink on Mondays to Wednesdays throughout August can search the website based on location and the type of food available as well as which days the offers are valid on.

One business that has signed up to the new scheme is Toast Coffee House, on Dentons Green Lane, Windle, who will be serving up a wide range of food and drinks at a reduced rate as thank you to their customers.

Owner Lisa had to close the doors to the business in March and did not reopen until July 4.

She said: “We took the decision to close just before lockdown started and stayed that way until the beginning of this month. When we reopened our fantastic loyal customers returned almost straight away and we’ve been fortunate to have had a very busy café since then.

“We signed up to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme as a way to say thank you to our customers for their unwavering support and it’s been so nice to reconnect with them in the last month. We’ve a wonderful community and so many people have said thank you to us for reopening and it’s great to be able to provide a bit of normality, albeit with plenty of safety precautions including screens and outdoor seating, back into their lives.”

Councillor Richard McCauley, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing, added: “Businesses like Toast Coffee House have been heavily impacted by the lockdown but it’s clear that our communities really value their services and it’s so important that we do our bit to support them. We created the online database as an easy way to search out who is offering the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and we should be doing all we can to support our local economy by taking advantage of these great offers.

"Many of these businesses like Toast are small independent businesses and it’s vital we make sure they get our help to continue trading.”

To see where is offering the Eat Out to Help Out offers and to check which days they are applicable visit sthelens.gov.uk/eatouthelpout.