Advertisement
Food

32 places where kids can eat free or for £1 during the Christmas holidays

Here are all of the places where kids can eat for free and cheap during the Christmas holidays, as families face the cost of living crisis

There are plenty of restaurants and cafes across the country where kids can eat free or for £1 over the Christmas holidays.

The break from school comes with extra costs. Childcare can often be expensive, and the government does not directly fund free school meals out of term time. 

Beyond the cost of it, keeping your kids entertained over the school holidays can be a challenge. Taking your little ones out for an exciting meal (or even two) could be just the thing you need to get them out the house.

It’s worth pointing out that many of these are not quite free. You often have to buy a full adult’s meal alongside, which won’t always work out the cheapest, so it’s worth checking the terms and conditions before you apply because some of these offers are better than others.

At Asda, for example, you don’t have to buy an adult’s meal alongside it. And at Ikea, kids’ meals are as low as 95p.

Here are all the places kids can eat free or for just £1 over the Christmas holidays.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Bill’s

Kids eat free at Bill’s on weekdays when an adult orders a main dish – that can be for breakfast, lunch or dinner! The kids’ menu features classics like buttermilk pancakes, mac & cheese, and fish fingers and chips.

TGI Fridays

Kids eat free at TGI Fridays when you order an adult’s main meal. The offer is available for Stripes Rewards members all day every day, including Christmas school holidays – you’ll just need to join via their app, which is free to download through app stores.

You’ll get a complimentary Little League or Major League kids’ meal. The menu includes classic burgers, fish fingers and vegan choices. There is also free Heinz baby food for the smallest guests at TGI Fridays. Find out more here.

Sizzling Pub and Grill

Your child can enjoy a £1 meal at Sizzling Pub and Grill as long as you purchase an adult’s main meal. The offer is available on weekdays from 3pm. The menu includes fish fingers, pasta, chicken wraps, pizza and more. Get the offer

OK Diners 

One child under 10 can eat free when an adult purchases a main meal. This offer is available every day at the diners in Derby, Cannock, Leominster, Northop and Oswestry. Read all about it here.

Gordon Ramsay Restaurants 

At selected Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, kids can eat for free from the Ramsay kids menu when ordering a main. It’s only available for children under the age of eight and you will need to purchase an adult main for every free children’s meal. It’s available at Heddon Street Kitchen, all Bread Street Kitchen and Bars, Bread Street Café, Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill and York and Albany.

Advertisement

This offer is available all year around, except on select dates like Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. 

Sainsbury’s Café

You can get one children’s hot main meal or “lunch bag” for £1 with the purchase of an adult hot main meal from £5.20 in the Sainsburys café. The lunch bag includes a sandwich, bag of crisps, a piece of fruit and a kids’ drink. Mains include a sausage, cheese and tomato pizza or chicken nuggets. It’s available every day from 11.30am until the cafe closes.

Morrisons Café

Children aged 16 and below can get one free meal with every adult meal. The offer only applies when you purchase an adult meal with a value of £4.50 or over, and it excludes all cafe specials. The meal includes a piece of fruit and orange or apple juice or bottle of water. Read the terms and conditions here.

Bella Italia

Kids can eat free all day every Thursday and for £1 between 4pm to 6pm from Sunday to Wednesday, at Bella Italia.

They get three courses and a drink. Meals are suitable for two to 11 year olds, with smaller and larger portion sizes to suit their appetites

The cheapest adult main course is the margherita pizza, priced at £11.49 – though these prices go up to £11.99 at some London and Center Parcs branches. Read all about it.

Advertisement

Dunelm

Many of the furnishing retailer’s branches have an in-store eatery, the Pausa cafe. Kids can get a ‘mini main’, two snacks and a drink for free, as long as an accompanying adult spends £4 or more.

Tesco Café

Kids eat free at Tesco Café this Christmas holiday and all year round with the Kids’ Pick ‘N’ Mix Lunch Deal. Your child will get a sandwich, a piece of fruit, two snacks and a drink. An adult just has to buy any item in the Tesco Café (that includes drinks).

Dobbies

Kids can get a free breakfast or lunch at national garden centre Dobbies, with one meal and drink available for every adult main purchased. It does not include the Beaconsfield, Hungerford, Keston, Andover, Lelant, Marple, Reading, York and Anchorwood restaurants. It’s £1 for a kids’ Sunday roast.

The lunch offer’s available every day from 12 noon until 3pm, or the breakfast only until 11.30am.

Travelodge

If you happen to be staying in a Travelodge over the Christmas holiday, kids aged 15 and under eat completely free. Your child can choose as much as they like from the cooked selection, including prime back bacon, Cumberland pork sausages, free range scrambled eggs and more. Up to two kids can eat free for every full paying adult, starting at £5.50 for a breakfast to go.

Premier Inn

The same goes at Premier Inn! When an adult orders a full Premier Inn breakfast or a meal deal, up to two under 16s eat breakfast for free. Find out more.

Advertisement

Holiday Inn

Kids eat (and stay) free at Holiday Inn. It is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel’s dine-in restaurant. Your kids will get a main course and dessert. An adult (who is registered as a hotel guest) must order at least one course from the full priced menu. It’s limited to four children per dining family. Find out more here – including how kids can stay for free at Holiday Inn. 

SA Brain Pubs

Welsh pub chain SA Brain & Co. is another pub chain handing out kids meals for just £1. This offer is available all day every Wednesday, and must be purchased alongside a full price adult main meal. It excludes Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Purezza

Purezza, the vegan pizza restaurant, has a kids eat free scheme not just for the school holidays but all year round! Children under 10 can enjoy a free mini pizza with a topping of their choice. Only one child eats free per adult dining. The restaurants can provide additional mini pizzas and other children for £5 each. You’ll find Purezza in Camden, Bristol, Manchester and Brighton. 

Ikea

At Ikea, your little ones can enjoy the pasta with tomato sauce or the mac and cheese and a soft drink for 95p. You could also enjoy browsing and getting lost through the aisles of the furniture store and make it a proper trip out! This is available every day from 11am.



Table Table

Two kids under the age of 16 can get free, unlimited breakfast at Table Table’s all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast. You have to purchase an adult breakfast at a cost of £9.99. It promises a freshly cooked full English with all your cooked and continental favourites.

Brewers Fayre

Kids can get free buffet breakfast at Brewers Fayre, which is also owned by Whitbread – just like Table Table. It is much the same deal as above. Kids have to be under the age of 16 to eat for free, and you have to purchase an adult breakfast for £10.99. 

Advertisement

Beefeater

Another Whitbread pub, Beefeater also offers two kids all-you-can-eat breakfast for free. Kids have to be under the age of 16 to eat for free, and you have to purchase an adult breakfast for £10.99. 

Heathrow Airport

OK, so you won’t be heading to Heathrow Airport purely for a meal (try explaining that to security), but if you are jetting off on a holiday over the Christmas holidays, it is handy to know that kids can eat for free in its restaurants. Participating spots include Big Smoke, Giraffe, The Globe and more. You can find the full list here.

The Real Greek

Kids eat free on Sundays at the Real Greek for every £10 spent by an adult. The offer includes one meal from the children’s menu as well as an ice cream or sorbet for kids under 12.

Hungry Horse

Every Monday, kids can eat for £1 at Hungry Horse pubs. Dishes include pork sausages, fish fingers and chicken nuggets and a small beef burger. Up to two kids can eat with every full paying adult. Larger dishes will cost you £1.50.

Asda Cafe

Asda’s kids eat for £1 meal deal has been extended all year round. Kids can get a hot meal, such as penne pasta with meatballs, fish fingers, chicken nuggets and all-day breakfast. They will also receive a free piece of fruit. There’s also a cold pick and mix selection that includes a sandwich, drink and piece of fruit. And you don’t have to buy anything yourself to go with it!

Banana Tree

Kids eat free at selected Banana Tree restaurants every Sunday. It’s a free kid’s main meal and kid’s dessert per full price main meal ordered from the all-day menu. This offer excludes Banana Tree Soho, Covent Garden and Oxford. It excludes the O2 location on event days, and is only available until 6pm in the Portsmouth location.

Advertisement

Franco Manca

Kids aged 12 and under can get a free pizza for every adult main you buy at Franco Manca. It’s available in Stoke Newington, Balham, Kilburn, Bishops Stortford, Cheltenham, Hove, Manchester Didsbury and Peterborough locations, as well as East Dulwich on Mondays to Thursdays.

It is available for eat-in only, is applied to individual kids pizzas (not the extended kids menu) and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

Brewdog

Kids eat free in Scotland this Christmas holiday from 26 December to 5 January in Brewdogs in England, – but you’ve got to buy a main for yourself. It’s only available if you pre-book, so make sure you do that.

Las Iguanas

Kids under 12 can get a free niños meal but only if you download the Las Iguanas app. Each adult ordering a main course from the a la carte menu can claim a free kids meal. It includes a main, two sides and a dessert.

It’s not available on big event days at the O2, Wembley, Resorts World, Cardiff Mill Lane or Brindley Place restaurants and at Las Iguanas Center Parcs.

The Coconut Tree

Children aged 10 and under eat free for every paying adult this Christmas holiday at Sri Lankan restaurant The Coconut Tree. It’s valid from 23 December to 5 January. Locations are in Bath, Birmingham, Reading, Oxford, Cheltenham, Cardiff and Bournemouth

Advertisement

Where kids can eat free or for £1 this Christmas holiday if you’re in London

Barbican Kitchen

Children under 10 can get a free kid’s meal at the Barbican Kitchen with every adult meal over £10 purchased. This offer is not just for the Christmas holidays but all year round. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the Barbican. See the menu and more on their website.

Preto

Kids can eat free at Brazilian buffet restaurant Preto this Christmas holiday and beyond. The offer is valid every weekday after 4pm and all weekend. This offer is open to children up to 10 years old, and proof of age might be requested. An adult will need to pay for a full meal.

It starts at £24.95 but you get an unlimited selection from the traditional Brazilian hot dishes and salad bar. You can get the offer at the Victoria, Putney, Queensway, Colchester and West End restaurants by downloading a voucher.  

Angus Steakhouse

At Angus Steakhouses in central London, one child can get a meal per full-paying adult. It is available every day from 12pm to 5pm. It is only on offer for kids under the age of 10. You should request in advance of your booking. It’s not applicable on Saturdays in Bond Street and Oxford Circus branches. Find out more.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us moreBig Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Advertisement

Buy a Big Issue Vendor Support Kit

This Christmas, give a Big Issue vendor the tools to keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing.

Recommended for you

Read All
This is why your Christmas turkey costs more this year
Food

This is why your Christmas turkey costs more this year

The Bear's Will Poulter and TV chef Big Zuu host BBQ for homeless young people: 'Food is everything'
will poulter and big zuu
Food

The Bear's Will Poulter and TV chef Big Zuu host BBQ for homeless young people: 'Food is everything'

'Out of touch': Rishi Sunak urged everyone to 'buy British' food – but there are several big problems
General election 2024

'Out of touch': Rishi Sunak urged everyone to 'buy British' food – but there are several big problems

Special Olympian and COALPIT Welsh Cake founder Michael Benyon shares his favourite recipes
Food

Special Olympian and COALPIT Welsh Cake founder Michael Benyon shares his favourite recipes

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue