A restaurant has blasted a group of diners who allegedly ‘tucked into’ a hearty meal of oysters and lobster before dashing off without paying the eye-watering bill.
Staff at Stubbs Restaurant in Ashford, Kent, were left furious after welcoming a group of seven who, after racking up a tab of £489, drove off ‘as fast as they could’.
Taking to social media, the restaurant issued a desperate plea, begging for the customers to ‘come back’ and pay the bill.
According to images posted of the customers’ receipt, the group enjoyed three lobster, crab and shrimp cocktails which cost £59.95.
In addition, they ordered two servings of crispy brie priced at £17.90, as well as a more moderately priced calamari at £9.95 and chicken liver parfait at £8.95.
There were also two orders of a dozen oysters costing £16 each.
The restaurant shared the receipt of the group to Facebook, showing a total of £489.90 was owed
A restaurant has blasted a group of diners who allegedly ‘tucked into’ a hearty meal of oysters and lobster before dashing off without paying the bill
Staff at Stubbs Restaurant in Ashford, Kent, were left furious after welcoming a group of seven who, after racking up a tab of £489, drove off ‘as fast as they could’
For their mains, they ordered four lobster thermidors which cost a total of £216, as well as an entrecote steak with a green peppercorn sauce for £31.50 and a skate dish for £23.95.
The group also enjoyed a variety of alcoholic beverages including three pints of Thatchers at £5.50 each, as well as a couple of 250ml glass of Malbec at £10.90 each and various glasses of Shiraz and Pinot Grigio.
A post by the restaurant on Facebook said the group left without paying the tab which totalled £489.90.
Posting alongside images of the alleged customers, they wrote: ‘Please come back and pay your bill!
‘We are a private restaurant and will not survive with you doing this to us.
‘You ate all of your meal and we gave you fabulous service… yet you drove off, as fast as you could, without paying.’
Taking to the comment section of the post, other customers shared their support for the restaurant.
One wrote: ‘So sorry they have done this. We were eating just round the corner from them.
According to images posted of the customers’ receipt, the group enjoyed three lobster, crab and shrimp cocktails which cost £59.95
In addition, they ordered two servings of crispy brie priced at £17.90, as well as a more moderately priced calamari at £9.95 and chicken liver parfait at £8.95
A post by the restaurant on Facebook said the group left without paying the tab which totalled £489.90
‘Wondered why the waitress was looking at us, was probably afraid we would leave too.’
‘Terrible. Become like Hotels, take a CCard Swipe when customers arrive. Anyone with good intentions will never complain at that! Good luck getting it back’, another said.
A third pointed out: ‘How many more times are you going to let this happen. Surely alarm bells must ring when these people walk in and start ordering the most expensive items on the menu.
‘I feel for you but you’ve had this happen on multiple occasions so logic says you need to tighten your systems up.’
Earlier this year, the restaurant encountered a similar incident.
Taking to their Facebook on May 4, they shared an image of two young men, writing: ‘Please come back and pay your bill’.
The has contacted the restaurant and Kent Police for comment.
It comes after a pub was hit twice within a few months earlier this year with diners walking out without paying.
But one family who were caught on CCTV ‘doing a runner’ after enjoying £215 slap-up Father’s Day lunch at a Cornish gastropub eventually settled their tab.
The group of six allegedly ran up the bill at The Fisherman’s Arms, Newlyn, in Penzance, Cornwall in June and walked off without paying after saying they were going for a cigarette.
The pub later said that the individuals involved in the incident have ‘paid up’, meaning the ‘matter is now closed’. It added that they even overpaid ‘as a gesture of good will’.
The pub posted on Twitter to inform people of the dramatic breakthrough.
It said: ‘We wish to inform you that the individuals concerned regarding The Father’s Day incident have now contacted the pub and paid the bill in full, in fact they’ve overpaid as a gesture of goodwill. The matter is now closed !!’
One of the people caught on CCTV is believed to be a man named Edward O’Reilly, 23, who is known as Ned, revealed previously.
He is the managing director of a company called Kings Landscaping and he lives in a static caravan on a traveller site next to the A38 in Plympton, Devon.
A number of people came forward to identify Mr O’Reilly in the footage, although the businessman is believed to deny that he was at the pub on Sunday and insists it is not him on CCTV.
The group of six – two men, two women and two children – are said to have arrived at the pub around 5pm and stayed for three hours.
They downed four Baileys White Russians and two Cosmopolitan cocktails as well as a cider, three pints of coca cola and three starters, six main courses and two desserts to rack up the mammoth bill.