Ian Glover, Catering Operations manager for Newcastle University, confirmed the budget cuts were why the discount had been axed. He confirmed the affordable meals scheme was funded by Newcastle University directly, not through Eat@Newcastle. This funding has been withdrawn due to budget cuts.
Save the Student found that food was the second biggest expense for students after housing, and the removal of these affordable meals only serves to increase this expense for students. Staff at Eat@Newcastle have recognised this and a spokesperson for Eat@Newcastle stated that despite budget cuts, their intent was to provide cheap offers through monthly promotions to benefit students.
"I very much doubt [the £1 meal scheme] is coming back, but we will try our best to provide for students through our monthly promotions"
-A Spokesperson for Eat@Newcastle
The £1 deal was reintroduced in November 2023 after a successful scheme earlier in 2023, with 11,920 units sold over a 20-week period. This equates to around 600 units (meals) sold per week, with around 120 per day, a non-insignificant number of meals provided to students.
Departmental budget cuts have affected students significantly, a spokesperson for the Politics Student-Staff committee commented on the impact that budget cuts have had on events. Due to budget cuts, it now remains unclear if the popular bi-weekly event hosted by the SSC ‘Food for Thought’ faces cancellation.
"We will try our best to provide the best quality events we can, despite budget restrictions."
-A Spokesperson for Undergraduate Politics Student Staff Committee
The cost of these events was £560, but due to budget cuts to the department, the continuation of these events appears unlikely. The SSC wants to assure readers that they will “fight for the continuation of these events despite budget cuts”.
