Waitress claims couple who left tea room without paying struck two days before at retail park
A COUPLE accused earlier this week of scarpering from a Nottingham tea room and bistro without paying are believed to have struck previously.
It is thought the same man and woman racked up a £145 bill before doing a runner from Frankie & Benny’s in Giltbrook Retail Park on Saturday, March 16.
A server, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s the same couple 1,000 per cent. I have worked at this restaurant nine years and this kind of thing happens once every three years. This couple shocked me more than anyone as I was having lots of chat with them and banter. I am absolutely shocked they did what they did. I’m disgusted. They need to be caught.”
Two days later, it is believed the same pair visited Josephine’s in Nottingham city centre, fleecing the owners for food and drink to the tune of £78. The woman is said to have made the excuse of going outside for a cigarette, then while other customers were coming in, the man reportedly ran out.
At Frankie & Benny’s, they reportedly went out for cigarettes throughout the evening. The waitress said: “I didn’t think anything of it. As soon as they ordered drinks, they went out for a cigarette and were going out throughout the meal.”
The man, believed to be in his 50s, has grey hair, and the woman, who was aged around 40, was wearing big hoop earrings. They ordered steak and salmon and “a lot of alcohol”. He was drinking double whiskies and she was ordering cocktails and wine.
“They were talking to me about the Creme Egg cookie dough we sell and I said it was really nice. We were laughing and joking about how much we like Creme Eggs and he said we’ll order two of them and nip out of a quick cigarette. I got the two desserts and put them on the table and thought ‘they’ve been a while’. I went out the front to look for them but they were nowhere to be seen and never came back,” she said.
The restaurant’s head chef spotted the Post story and sent a screenshot to the server, who said: “As soon as I clicked on the story I said that’s them. It’s disgusting, it’s so bad especially for small businesses. They need to be caught. It’s theft.
“We didn’t report it to be police they never do anything about it, but now it’s happened again, I’ll tell my manager to do it. Other cafes and restaurants need to look out for them.
“They did call me ‘duck’ a couple of times so I presume they are local unless they came from afar and picked up on that word.”
The deputy manager added: “Why order pudding if you weren’t coming back? It’s a waste on top of it. There’s not a lot we can do unless we make guests pay up front but you’d have to do it for everyone you can’t pick and choose.”