Restaurants see return of business lunches after crunch

RESTAURANTS in the Capital have seen the return of the business lunch as confidence grows among the city's firms.

New figures from restaurant bookings website 5pm.co.uk show lunch bookings have increased by 14 per cent so far this year compared with the beginning of last year.

The firm said lunch bookings slumped by 10 per cent in 2009, to 18,900, as the economic downturn forced companies to scale back their expenses.

However, based on early-year figures, it is projecting that around 21,000 lunches will be booked through the website in 2010.

Charles Shaw, chairman of 5pm.co.uk, said: "Business lunches have always been an integral way for the corporate world to clinch deals and to court new clients, but last year executives appeared to be cutting them out in the belief that it would save them money.

"However, there are definite signs that businesses are beginning to feel more confident about spending money on corporate hospitality again and we have noticed a 14 per cent increase in midweek lunch bookings already this year."

Ron Hewitt, chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "After a year where businesses were focused on managing their way through the recession, when reducing all forms of discretionary spend were top of the mind, it is encouraging to see signs confidence is growing."