Friday night is the new time for the Sunday roast

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But it would seem the traditional Sunday lunch is disappearing from the nation's dining tables faster than the last roast potato on the plate.

In its place, the modern family now picks Friday evenings to sit around the dining table for some quality time, according to a think-tank study.

The Future Foundation research found just six million people - 10 per cent of the population - eat Sunday lunch together. That is half the number from 1961.

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Now families sit down together for a roast on Friday nights

The decline is blamed on more people going to work on Sundays, as well as more shops being open at the weekend.

But twice as many families find time to eat and chat together on Friday evenings than was the case in the Sixties, according to the findings. The

survey of 20,000 adults - carried out using data from the Institute for Social and Economic Research - also showed a clear North/South divide, with nearly three times as many families in the South still eating together on a Sunday.

Heston Blumenthal, owner of the worldrenowned Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, said yesterday: 'The world would be a far worse place if the tradition of Sunday lunch were to disappear. This is something we need to act to protect, to save and to cherish.'

And Masterchef presenter John Torode said: 'I've got young children: if we don't sit around the dinner table, how are they going to learn about the world? How are they going to learn about adult conversation? About table manners?

'You have to have an ability to interact, and Sunday lunch is one of the best ways to teach that.'