Diner’s threat to ruin Michelin pub’s online rating in spat over refund

A COUNTRY inn rated the best restaurant in the world is at the centre of an alleged blackmail bid over a TripAdvisor review.

Tommy Banks, head chef at the Michelin-starred Black Swan, says one no-show guest threatened to pillory the inn on the website unless given a £900 refund.

He told his 18,000 Twitter followers: ‘We seem to have been threatened with bad reviews online unless we let them off the cancellation policy. We should never back down to what appears to be blackmail.’

The row is over a one-star review posted anonymously on TripAdvisor this week after the inn, in Oldstead, North Yorkshire, refused to refund a prepaid bill for rooms and meals after the booking was called off due to illness a few days in advance. The Black Swan was named world’s best restaurant in the 2017 TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice awards. But the customer, who claimed to have lost £900, said: ‘Very disappointed... I have had to cancel due to my mother becoming very unwell.’

The inn’s ‘no refund’ policy is on its website and Mr Banks said his team had tried hard to replace the booking, in which case only a £20 fee would have applied.