If we’ve normalised the idea of public leisure centres, why not apply the same model to public restaurants?

After all, food is a public good, as vital to our health and community life as access to sport and leisure, and, like public leisure, it should be universally accessible, regardless of income.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) agrees: its Minimum Income Standard report includes occasional meals out as part of a decent standard of living. 

So why restaurants, and why now?

Because our high streets are crying out for reinvention and public restaurants can be the anchors that draw people back, drive footfall, and regenerate in ways that are both equitable and lasting. It starts with something as simple, human, and powerful as eating together.

Imagine this:

🥙 Nutritious, price-capped meals, no more expensive than fast food

🍽️ A small, regularly changing menu, perhaps just two dishes

👬 Spaces designed to be welcoming and communal.

How would it work?

I’m developing a local partnership model built around a membership body that regulates and supports public restaurants, while delivering measurable social returns and meeting local authority public health outcomes.

What’s next?

Build the team → Identify partners → Stress-test the model → Pilot the first sites.

My vision? 

That in the future, no civic development is is designed without considering whether it could support a social dining space at its heart, a place that both serves and is strengthened by the community it sits in.