Last checked: 1 October 2026. Feeding children while you are out can quickly turn a cheap day out into an expensive one. I checked current UK restaurant and café offers to find the deals that are actually useful now — including places where kids eat free and places where children’s meals cost around £1. If you are planning a birthday rather than an everyday family meal, see my kids’ birthday freebies guide and the main UK birthday freebies guide.
Please check before travelling: restaurant promotions can change, end early or vary by location. The offers below were checked against current information available on 1 October 2026, but always check the brand’s own terms and your local branch before ordering.
Where can kids eat free or for £1 today?
| Place | Kids’ deal | What you need to spend | When? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morrisons Café | 1 kids’ meal free | Buy an eligible adult main meal of £5+ | Every day |
| Dunelm Pausa | Kids eat free | Spend £5 | Current ongoing offer |
| Brewers Fayre | Up to 2 kids eat breakfast free | Buy 1 adult unlimited breakfast (£11.99) | Breakfast hours |
| Asda Café | Kids eat for £1 | No adult meal required | Current offer through end of 2026 |
| IKEA | Kids’ meals from 95p | No adult meal stated as required | Current offer |
Kids eat free: current UK offers
Morrisons Café — free kids’ meal with a £5+ adult main
Morrisons currently gives one free kids’ meal with each qualifying adult main meal costing £5 or more. The offer runs nationwide in Morrisons Cafés, seven days a week. Children must be under 16 and with an adult. The current kids’ options include a main and drink, with a Kids Pick n Mix option also included. For a parent who was already planning to eat there, this is one of the clearest ongoing free-meal deals I found. Check Morrisons’ current Kids Eat Free terms.
Dunelm Pausa — kids eat free when you spend £5
Dunelm’s Pausa cafés currently advertise a free kids’ meal with every £5 spent. The children’s deal includes one kids’ main, one drink and two snacks. This can be particularly useful if you were already stopping for lunch or coffee while shopping. Check that your local Dunelm has a Pausa café before making a special trip. Check the current Pausa offer.
Brewers Fayre — two children eat breakfast free
Brewers Fayre currently lets two children under 16 eat breakfast free with each adult unlimited breakfast purchased. The adult breakfast is currently £11.99. Breakfast is served until 10:30am midweek and 11am at weekends. You do not need to be staying at a Premier Inn to use the restaurant breakfast. For one adult travelling with two children, the household cost can be especially competitive. Check Brewers Fayre breakfast details.
Kids eat for £1 — or even less
Asda Café — kids eat for £1
Asda’s Kids Eat for £1 deal is unusually simple because you do not have to buy an adult meal to unlock it. Children aged 16 and under can get a £1 kids’ meal at participating Asda Cafés. Current Asda information says the £1 offer is running until the end of 2026, and individual café pages describe it as available all day, every day. That makes this particularly useful when the aim is simply to feed the children cheaply rather than buy a full family restaurant meal. Check Asda’s current £1 café offer and participating stores.
IKEA — kids’ meals from 95p
IKEA currently advertises children’s meals from 95p in its Swedish Restaurants. The 95p option is pasta with tomato sauce, a soft drink and a piece of fruit. This is not technically a “kids eat free” offer, but at under £1 it belongs in this guide — especially because the current IKEA page does not state that an adult meal has to be purchased to get the 95p children’s meal. Availability can depend on the restaurant, so check your local store. Check current IKEA Food offers.
What about school holidays and October half term?
This is where kids-eat-free lists can become misleading. Restaurants often launch short promotions for Easter, summer and half term, and an old deal can continue appearing in search results after it has finished. I will keep temporary deals separate from the ongoing offers above rather than making an expired school-holiday promotion look permanent.
For example, Toby Carvery ran a Kids Eat for £1 promotion from 29 June to 4 September 2026. That was a useful summer deal, but it has now ended, so I have not put it in the “available today” table. The same rule applies to other seasonal restaurant offers: they move into the live section only when I can verify current dates and terms.
Free isn’t always the cheapest family meal
The word “free” can be distracting. If a free children’s meal requires a £15 or £20 adult purchase, a 95p or £1 children’s meal with no adult-meal requirement may leave you spending less overall. Before choosing a restaurant, I would compare the total amount your family has to spend, not just the value of the free item.
For example, one adult buying the £11.99 Brewers Fayre breakfast can feed up to two under-16s breakfast free. Morrisons requires an eligible £5+ adult main for one free child’s meal. Asda’s £1 children’s meal does not require an adult meal. Those are three very different versions of a “cheap kids’ meal”.
What about McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and other big chains?
I don’t want to add famous restaurant names simply to make this list look longer. Deals at major chains can be app-based, branch-specific or limited to school-holiday dates. If I cannot verify a current nationwide offer from the brand itself, I won’t describe it as an ongoing Kids Eat Free deal. This page will be updated as genuinely current offers appear.
Planning a child’s birthday?
Ordinary Kids Eat Free offers and birthday rewards are different. If the meal is for your child’s birthday, check my Kids Birthday Freebies UK guide, where I have checked birthday-specific toy, restaurant and activity rewards. For birthday offers for the whole family, see the main UK Birthday Freebies & Discounts guide.
Quick checklist before you travel
- Check the offer is still running on the brand’s own website.
- Check whether your local branch participates.
- Look for child age limits.
- Check whether an adult main meal or minimum spend is required.
- Check the days and serving times — breakfast deals are not all-day deals.
- For school-holiday offers, check the exact start and end dates.
- Compare the total family bill, not just the word “free”.
How I keep this guide current
Last verified: 1 October 2026. Restaurant and café offers can change or be withdrawn at short notice. I check the offers against current information available from the businesses, but I strongly recommend confirming with your local branch before travelling or ordering. When a temporary deal expires, I will remove it from the “live now” section rather than leave an old promotion looking current.