Credit crunch

Mark Greenaway, one of the country’s leading chefs, is to introduce £50 penalties for diners who reserve a table only to fail to show up, describing their mentality as “lunacy.” So, who’s giving him their credit card details?

I would have no issues with that at all. I’m expecting to pay for my meal anyway and it’s downright rude to book and not turn up!

Vicky Beveridge

But no charge if you do turn up then? Fine with me. No issues there. Sometimes it takes weeks or months to get into the top restaurants and it’s a terrible loss of business for the owners, so fair play I say.

Susan Donnelly

100% agree. I have no problem paying a deposit and it certainly wouldn’t stop me booking. Annoys me when people say a top restaurant shouldn’t need a deposit as they should be able to get rid of the tables.

Lindsay Fair

Do they charge if you cancel? If something happened on the day (a relative passing, or going into labour, or an accident) and a customer had to cancel, would the charge still be applied?

Jennifer Hunter

Extremely fair. Some top restaurants barely scrape a profit and lose thousands with cancelled bookings.

Mark Mcdougall

Uh. No. If it’s a top restaurant they don’t need a deposit to ensure the table doesn’t go unused.

Jacqueline Elston

It’s not a deposit

Mark Greenaway