Restaurant owner warns no-shows are 'massive blow'

A restaurant owner has warned that no-shows are a "massive blow" for small hospitality businesses.

Eddie King, owner of family-run The Old Forge in Sewerby, near Bridlington, said a group of 14 people failed to turn up to their booking on Sunday 27 April.

He claimed the party did not call or email to cancel the booking, costing him hundreds of pounds.

Mr King, 53, said, in his five years of owning the pub, the table of 14 was the biggest group to not honour a booking.

He said he estimated he lost about £300, which he says would have been a "massive" amount of money this week.

"It's demoralising. Everybody was a little bit flat about it," Mr King said.

"We're a seasonal business and, at this time of the year, it's very, very busy. We turned a lot of people away this weekend."

He said other customers were unable to book online because six tables had been reserved for the group, and he could not accept any walk-ins either.

Some pubs and restaurants take deposits, but Mr King has chosen not to at The Old Forge which he opened one month before the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

"I like to take people's word for it," he said. "That might be old fashioned, but that's good enough for me."

Mr King added: "Just contact us. Let us know. Let somebody else have that table.

"Allow us to budget for our business. We can only do that if we have a rough idea of how many people are coming."

Data from hospitality technology firm Zonal showed that, in 2024, the number of no-shows had risen from 12% to 14%.

It said they cost the hospitality industry an estimated £17.59bn in lost sales every year.

Hospitality businesses also faced increases in wage bills and employer National Insurance contributions in April.

Figures from trade body UKHospitality showed there were at least 17,000 fewer businesses in the sector at the end of 2024, compared with 2019.

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