Public diners
We have public healthcare, public transport, public libraries and public parks. Why not public diners?
Public diners are state-supported restaurants. They serve good meals at prices everyone can afford.
Public diners aren’t charity nor luxury - they are everyday eating places. On a High Street and open all week, they are convenient places to eat solo, with friends or with family.
They used to operate in the UK under the banner of British or Civic Restaurants. Today, many governments around the world are investing in their own brand of public diners – for example, bary mleczny (milk bars) in Poland and halk lokantasi (public restaurants) in Turkey.
Nourish Scotland are leading a movement to bring public diners to the UK today.
Public diners have worked in the UK before
Before the UK had a national health service (NHS) it had a national restaurant service.
From 1940 right through to the late 60s, the UK government subsidised a chain of restaurants, first known as ‘British Restaurants’ during the Second World War and then enshrined in law as ‘Civic Restaurants’ after the war.
By 1944, there were more than 2000 across the UK.
In 2024, we worked with a group over 100 community researchers to understand this history. Find out more on our heritage page.
What could public diners do for us today?
Public diners are a bold policy intervention which has the potential to transform the food system in the UK. They will be regular eating places that make it possible to dine out more than once a week without breaking our banks or our health.
Public diners will be places that enable us to do food better: better for us, for our health, our climate, our communities.
"When would you use a public diner?"
In February 2024, Nourish brought almost 200 people together to start reimagining public diners. This was about making use of an exciting opportunity: the opportunity to design a piece of public infrastructure with people. We asked participants, “When would you use a public diner?”
Click the image to view more responses.
What are we doing with public diners?
Nourish Scotland has been working with people to develop the public diner concept for the past 3 years.
The public diners report sets out this concept and has begun the campaign for Government to invest in a proper trial of public diners across the country.
This year we will continue a national conversation about the potential future of public diners by hosting a series of suppers and exhibitions across Scotland.
Read the report
