Marks & Spencer has announced that its cafes have joined the government’s ‘eat out to help out’ scheme, offering half-price food and beverages Monday to Wednesday throughout August, starting today.

The retailer has also pledged to pass the hospitality VAT cut it received from the government directly on to customers, meaning every item it sells has had its price reduced. 

New prices when both discounts are applied include £1.18 for a flat white and 86p for a toasted teacake. 

M&S today reopened 102 more of its in-store cafes, bringing the total open for dine-in across the UK to 303, all of which will offer the discount scheme.

A further 17 cafes are open for takeaways only.

Since reopening, M&S said it has sold more than 900,000 hot drinks, 175,000 scones, 130,000 toasties and 50,000 toasted teacakes. 

Read more: Deep dive - Can M&S become the nation’s favourite shop again?

Marks & Spencer has gone from turnaround plan to turnaround plan since the turn of the millennium, but time is starting to run out. As Britain’s favourite retailer loses relevance to today’s shoppers, Retail Week asks: can M&S be saved?

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