Bangor restaurateur’s dismay at Christmas lunch ‘no shows’

The Salty Dog Hotel took to Twitter to stress the importance of honouring booking as hotels, unlike a number of other Covid-affected businesses, get no financial assistance from government.

A post on the hotel’s Twitter page said: “Thanks to the 20% of customers who didn’t turn up today and didn’t bother telling us (you lost your deposit and a delicious Christmas lunch) but we lost a lot more.

“But sure hotels aren’t affected by government restrictions so we won’t be getting any help there either. We have never in 10 years had Christmas Day no shows.”

Mourne Seafood owner Bob McCoubrey has also spoken out on a number of occasions about the difficulties being faced by restaurateurs during the pandemic.

In response to the Salty Dog’s social media message, Mourne Seafood tweeted: “Give them a call at 4am just to check they are ok”.

Another Twitter user said: “So disrespectful. Absolutely disgraceful. Numbers should be held for future bookings and then a refusal every time. No manners or respect. A quick phone call is all it takes.”

From Monday, Nightclubs will have to close under the new post-Christmas restrictions and indoor standing events will also be prohibited.

For hospitality businesses remaining open, a series of added curbs will apply.

Dancing has been banned while a table service only policy has been reintroduced, along with the “rule of six” limit on table sizes.

Weddings are exempted from the hospitality measures.

Earlier this year the owner of Holohan’s restaurant on Belfast’s University Road, Calvin Holohan, said there was a “new phenomenon” whereby people are booking tables at a number of venues then deciding on the night which one to visit.

Around the same time, the owners of Amici Ristorante in Portstewart complained about the high number of people not turning up after booking.

Amici used Facebook to ask customers unable to attend, for whatever reason, to ring and cancel their booking.

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