An Italian restaurant has given away free meals to people living in coronavirus lockdown and NHS workers.

After having to close its doors on Friday, following prime minister Boris Johnson’s order for all restaurants and cafés to temporarily shut, Benoli on Orford Street, Norwich, made up 500 takeaway tubs with between £1,000 and £2,000 worth of ingredients that would otherwise have been thrown away.

The vegetarian dishes were delivered to between 90 and 100 households across Norfolk including isolated elderly people whose carers have been impacted by the virus, families and nurses who have not been able to buy food from supermarkets after shifts.

MORE: The people, groups and communities in Norfolk helping others in their hour of needChef Oliver Boon, from Cromer, who started the business in July 2019, said: “Many people are quite miserable and we thought it would be a nice to do something to help people. It is good for the community as people are having a terrible time.”