There’s been a great deal of chatter around earlier restaurant reservations lately, with data from the online bookings service OpenTable highlighting an 11 per cent rise in 6pm tables across London. Gen Z’s healthier lifestyles – less booze, earlier nights, sunrise gym sessions – has been blamed by some, so too our post-pandemic world. With more people working from home and skipping long commutes, how people socialise has changed.
It’s a trend echoed around the UK. The hospitality tech group Zonal reported the new national average dining time is 6.12pm and chefs and restaurateurs have reacted, adapted. One, Joe Laker from Counter 71 in Old Street, recently introduced a £50 early evening set menu. It’s true that pre-theatre options have long been par for the course in busy cities but night owls might be worrying — will there be anywhere left for them to perch with such an emphasis on the early birds?
