Town centre café hit by no shows to start charging a deposit
A cafe left with empty tables and seats after a group of eight failed to turn up, has said it will start charging a deposit for large parties in future.
The Gatehouse Café in Bridgnorth had ordered extra ingredients for Sunday lunch at the weekend, but was left out of pocket when a booking for eight people didn't show up.
Tasha Baynham, who has owned the café in St Mary's Street for nearly three years, said she discovered that the group had phoned to cancel - but at a similar named restaurant in Essex.
"That doesn't really help me much," she said. "People don't really think when they make bookings and then not turn up or fail to cancel. Eight is quite a big number for me to lose as I only have 20 tables in my place.
"It doesn't happen often, just the odd occasion, but on Sunday it was roast dinner day so we had brought extra stuff in."
She said to prevent future no shows, the café, which is open daily until 4.30pm, will now be charging a deposit for bookings of four or more.
"You are damned if you do and damned with things like that but we will have to take a deposit for large parties in future, especially now that the Christmas period is here," she added.
