Many pubs and restaurants charge a deposit to curb the phenomenon, but Mr. King chose not to do so at The Old Forge. “I like to take people's word for it,” he says. “Maybe it's a little old-fashioned, but that's fine with me.” Tolerating, however, large losses.
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Some people leave an empty chair at a dinner party and some, without realizing it, leave a hole in the till. Such is the case with Eddie King, face and soul of The Old Forge, family-run pub nestled in the windy arms of Sewerby, not far from Bridlington. On an ordinary Sunday, a group of 14 people had reserved a corner of his restaurant. Too bad none of them ever showed up. No phone call, no message, no smoke signal. The damage? About 300 pounds of revenue vanished like whipped cream in the sun. But the real bill doesn't just read on the calculator: there's the disappointment, the lost time, the customers turned away because those tables were “reserved,” and above all that bitter feeling of those who trust, and then are left with their aprons hanging.
"It was a beating. The mood was down, “ King, 53, confesses to the BBC as he recounts what he calls, in no uncertain terms, the biggest ‘rip-off’ he has received in five years of running the restaurant. At a time of year when the industry is marching full steam ahead - spring calling out tourists, menus changing skins, kitchens running - losing a group of 14 covers means more than a night gone wrong. It means saying no to real customers because you trusted the wrong ones. “We turned down a lot of reservations,” he explains. And the reason is simple: six tables were set aside for that group, which ultimately went silent.
Unlike other restaurateurs, however, King does not ask for deposits. Not out of naiveté, but out of a specific, almost romantic choice. “I like to take people's word for it,” he says. “Maybe it's a bit of an old-fashioned approach, but that's enough for me." It's a position that sounds almost unusual today, in an industry where now even a dinner with friends is armored by digital reservations, QR codes and automated messages. But King still believes that a promise, even made over the phone, has value. That's why the blow was so hard: because it didn't just miss a collection, it broke an implicit covenant between customer and restaurateur. The request, almost a plea, is simple: “Contact us. Let us know. Allow someone else to sit at that table. Help us plan. Without an idea of the numbers, we can't even decide how many potatoes to peel."And here the knot tightens. Because the problem of “no-shows”-the unfulfilled bookings-is not a minor annoyance, but a black hole that sucks up margins, wastes resources and makes fragile an industry that already walks a tightrope between price hikes, staff shortages and rising fixed costs.
The independent restaurant industry, already tried by turbulent years, now struggles not only with macroeconomic variables but also with the uncertainty of daily routines. Every missed reservation is a wasted shift, a staff paid for nothing, a plate ready to be fork-orphaned. And it is against this background that King's words gain weight. For behind every beer tapped or roast in the oven, there is a small, often family-owned business working at the drop of a hat. “We're a seasonal business, and we go full throttle these days. When something like this happens, it's tough." Ultimately, the issue is not (only) economic. It's a matter of respect, of social education, of awareness. Booking a table means commitment. And if plans change-because it can happen-a call is the least. It's not formality, it's good manners. And in times when everything is instant and digitized, taking the time to cancel a reservation is perhaps one of the few authentically human gestures left.
And if trust is no longer enough, there remains the - bitter, but understandable - possibility of introducing mandatory deposits, at least for large groups. A form of insurance against the uncertainty of others' behavior. It's not an easy choice, especially for those who, like Eddie King, have built their pubs on hospitality, word of mouth and a sincere handshake. But when the future of your business also depends on who shows up (or not) for dinner, perhaps it's time to rethink the rules of the game.
