New data from TheFork reveals 42% of UK diners now book with a deal as promo-led dining surge 61% in a year
London, UK – August 2025 – New booking data from TheFork, Europe’s leading restaurant reservation platform, reveals that 42% of UK restaurant bookings this summer were made with a promotion, up from 36% last year. That marks a 61% surge in discount-led reservations, signalling a tipping point where value-first dining has become the new normal.
Far from treating promos as an occasional perk, diners are making them a default part of the dining experience. On average, UK customers saved £10 per food bill, or around 35% off their meal, showing that cost-consciousness is shaping not only how often people eat out, but also where and what they order.
TheFork’s findings reflect a wider shift highlighted by Barclays’ latest 10 Years of Spend report, which showed that two-thirds of consumers (66%) are paying more attention to their budgets than they did a decade ago. In restaurants, this is reinforcing a new cultural behaviour: the rise of the “value-first diner.”
“It’s been a challenging period of economic uncertainty for both diners and the hospitality industry, but our data proves people still want to eat out; they’re just doing it smarter. We’re proud to help restaurants attract new customers while giving diners unforgettable experiences that don’t break the bank,” said Patrick Hooykaas, Regional Managing Director at TheFork.
Where Diners Really Save: Cheshunt Tops the League
London is often considered UK’s most expensive place to eat out, yet new data upends this myth. The average pre-discount bill in London is £28.68—only the 10th highest in the country. It’s smaller cities and commuter towns that top the leader board for both big spending and bigger savings:
- Cheshunt (Hertfordshire): £36.07 average bill, with £18.03 saved per meal (50% off)
- Belfast (Northern Ireland): £34.14, saving £14.72 (43% off)
- Peterborough (Cambridgeshire): £32.40, saving £13.08 (40% off)
- Exeter (Devon): £30.00, saving £15.00 (50% off)
- Bath (Somerset): £32.29, saving £10.63 (33% off)
While the capital doesn’t top the city-wide savings league, it does host the UK’s most generous individual restaurant discounts, including:
- Pivot Bar & Bistro – saving of £45 on a £90 meal
- The Franklin Restaurant by Alfredo Russo – save £37.50
- Ginza St. James’s – save £35
What’s hot on the plate
While savings drive behaviour, it hasn’t stopped diners chasing premium experiences. Some of the fastest-growing categories for promo-led bookings are:
- Steakhouses – +439% year-on-year
- Japanese restaurants – +343%
- Indian restaurants – +205%
This shows that promos are no longer just about midweek pizzas, they are democratising access to once-luxury cuisines.
Most-booked restaurants of Summer 2025
TheFork’s Summer campaign revealed the venues topping the UK dining charts:
- Cabana – Covent Garden
- PJ’s Chelsea Brasserie
- Colonel Saab – Trafalgar Square
- Ukai – Notting Hill
- Naroon – Marylebone
About TheFork:
TheFork, a Tripadvisor® company, is the leading online restaurant booking platform in Europe. At the forefront of championing restaurant culture, TheFork harnesses technology to foster real life connections between diners and restaurateurs and set them up for success. With a network of approximately 55,000 partner restaurants across 11 countries, nearly 40 million app downloads and more than 20 million verified reviews, TheFork stands as the go-to platform for all food lovers to enjoy unforgettable restaurant experiences. Through TheFork, users can easily find restaurants according to their preferences, check real-time availability, instantly book online 24/7, benefit from special offers and pay directly on the app.
For restaurateurs, TheFork’s technology empowers them to thrive, thanks to TheFork Manager, a software solution to optimise reservation management and occupancy rate, increase bookings & visibility, fight no-shows, manage payments and streamline operations, while connecting to the broadest community of loyal diners.
About Tripadvisor:
Tripadvisor, the world’s largest travel guidance platform*, helps hundreds of millions of people each month** become better travellers, from planning to booking to taking a trip. Travellers across the globe use the Tripadvisor site and app to discover where to stay, what to do and where to eat based on guidance from those who have been there before. With more than 1 billion reviews and opinions of nearly 8 million businesses, travellers turn to Tripadvisor to find deals on accommodations, book experiences, reserve tables at delicious restaurants and discover great places nearby. As a travel guidance company available in 43 markets and 22 languages, Tripadvisor makes planning easy no matter the trip type. The subsidiaries of Tripadvisor, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP), own and operate a portfolio of travel media brands and businesses, operating under various websites and apps.
* Source: SimilarWeb, unique users de-duplicated monthly, March 2023
** Source: Tripadvisor internal log files