Restaurateur divides opinion for charging a group of diners £10 when one person couldn’t attend – and was screamed at by a furious customer

• James Allcock is the owner of the Pig & Whistle bistro in Beverley, Yorkshire 
• He sparked debate after revealing that a diner swore at him over deposit policy
• READ MORE: Birmingham restaurant blasts one-star Google reviewer who accused staff of being ‘aggressively rude’ after they asked him to leave – saying they ‘don’t serve p***** people’ 

A restauranteur has sparked a debate after revealing that he was shouted and sworn at by an angry diner over a £10 table deposit.

James Allcock, who runs the Pig & Whistle in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, took to Twitter to discuss the incident.

He revealed that when making a booking, diners pay a £10 deposit for each member of their party, and they agree to forfeit that money if they fail to turn up.

When only four people arrived at the restaurant, despite having made a booking for five and making a deposit of £50, they were informed that they would forfeit £10 due to the missing member of the party.

According to James, this resulted in one of the diners shouting and swearing at him, and even taking his picture to share online alongside a negative review.

James Allock (pictured) the owner of Yorkshire restaurant the Pig & Whistle, has sparked a debate after revealing that he was ‘shouted and sworn at’ by a furious diner over £10

The restauranteur pointed out because the party hadn’t let him know in advance that they would require a smaller table, he had turned others away, resulting in a loss of potential income.

He wrote on Twitter: ‘If you click this [booking agreement regarding the deposit] & turn up a 4 with out calling & still expect £50 off your bill, the issue is with you, not me. Ps. Thanks to the guest who took my picture to put online, screaming at me, calling me a p****, ascertaining this without me getting a word in edge ways is remarkable.’

James noted in subsequent tweets that the party had failed to contact the bistro and explain that they would be a four and not five.

He said: ‘I only wanted to retain £10 also. It’s the fact no one even called – walked in “we’re a 4 now” no sorry nothing. Turning guests away all day also. Guests just don’t get it and don’t want to spend 5 minutes listening to our clear and fair side.’ 

Describing the angry diner’s behaviour in more depth, he said: ‘[She] refused to pay the bill if we didn’t take the £50 off. Called me a p****, a*******, screamed in my face. I was certain she was actually going to punch me. She was so aggressive. Took my picture to post online with her negative review threats.’

He also revealed in later tweets that the diner had been so aggressive, staff were concerned she may attack him with glassware.

James wrote: ‘I was verbally abused. The team removed glassware around me because it was so aggressive we thought I’d be attacked. You simply have no idea what it’s like.’ 

Responses to his initial post about the party losing £10 were mixed, with some people sympathising over the lost income and the party’s lack of consideration, but others suggesting that the policy could potentially lose the eatery business.

The restauranteur took to Twitter to reveal that diners had to agree to the table deposit policy when making a booking 

One suggested that arguing over the deposit was not worth while, as the party would spend more money as a party of four, than if they’d cancelled the whole booking.  

They wrote: ‘Hmm, I don’t think you’re position is one that’s objectively black vs white 100% “right”. If they’d cancelled, you’d get £50. If 4 people turn up to the booked table and eat a meal with drinks, is it worth an argument over £10 you want to deduct? 

However, the restauranteur noted that the party ‘didn’t call to inform us in advance’, adding that ‘5 people to a 4 means I have a free unsold table of 2’. 

And another added: ‘Worse still, they’ll never return. All over £10. I can understand taking the money if they didn’t turn up but their intentions were good as 4 of the 5 did. You’ve no idea what happened to the 5th & you may have unintentionally rubbed salt in. Surely repeat business is key?’

Some Twitter users felt that  enforcing the policy in this situation could ultimately backfire, and actually cost more than returning the full deposit

Meanwhile, a further Twitter user suggested that while the deposit policy may not be fiscally savvy, the diner’s behaviour was unreasonable.

They wrote: ‘There is absolutely no need for that behaviour, I would still expect the £50 [deposit back] because four people is a reasonable booking…’ 

However, others were more supportive, among them was a fellow chef Simon Wood, who felt that losing money from the deposit was a small price to pay.

He wrote: ‘100% what should happen, tbh £50 Is getting off lightly.’

Lots of people who responded to the post were more sympathetic, agreeing that the party should have simply called ahead

This prompted James to point out that the table was only losing £10 from the deposit, and not the full amount.

Another agreed that his position was fair, suggesting that some people seem to struggle with communication.

They said: ‘It’s like people have lost the ability to communicate properly! Recently had to cancel a booked party as my son was poorly, £130 down but accepted it as that’s £130 of business plus drinks etc that venue would have lost. Businesses are already struggling.’

Meanwhile another Twitter user, who also works in hospitality, revealed that they no longer worry about cancellation fees as much, which has made work easier.

He wrote: ‘I found life a lot more relaxing when I stopped looking at cancellation fees as an important policy that we needed to enforce, but rather just as a moderately effective deterrent against bad behaviour.’ 

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