Diners paid £1 to eat at Chinese restaurant

Oriental Aroma Chinese restaurant in Wiltshire is hoping to beat the recession - by paying customers to eat as much as they like.

Customer numbers have rocketed by 400 per cent since the restaurant launched the offer and huge queues have been forming outside.

After stuffing themselves at the ‘all you can eat’ buffet diners are handed £1 when they leave, provided they have spent at least £5 on drinks.

Owner James Huynh is losing £4,000-a-week by running the deal, but hopes his short-term loss will lead to a “long-term gain”. He reckons the deal at his eaterie in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, is the first of its kind in the UK.

Mr Huynh, 43, said: “Over the past six months we have felt the pressure of the economy, so I wanted an idea that no-one else had ever thought of to turn things around.

“We are losing out short-term but in the long term I think we will gain. The community appreciates it and will remember what we are doing.”