Coronavirus: Restaurant offers free meals for frontline NHS staff

Restaurants across the country are suffering, but one is stepping up to support NHS workers handling the coronavirus pandemic by offering free meals.

The Gurkha Lounge in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, is reserving a table for NHS staff to eat free every evening.

In a message on its Facebook page, the restaurant said: “Coronavirus is going to mean very hard times ahead for lots of people, especially those working in hospitals.

“As a small gesture from the Gurkha Lounge team to say thank you to all of our NHS staff during this time of great difficulty, we are keeping a table for two specially reserved for any nurses, doctors and staff who will receive a free dinner.

“We will be carrying this out as long as we can remain open up until 2 April.”

Manager Kris Krishna told Yahoo News UK: These are extremely difficult times for many people and I just wanted to say thank you. We have had a great response and I hope we have helped. Medical staff work very hard, we are very grateful for all they do.”

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The post added that meals will be free, but guests will have to pay for their own drinks.

Last month, an Indian takeaway in Glasgow said it would deliver free meals to people who were forced to self-isolate, and Greek Cypriot restaurant chain The Athenian is offering 50% off food for NHS staff.

A rise in “social distancing” has hit the hospitality industry hard, with many fearing they may have to shut if customer numbers continue to dwindle.