One quarter of bookings are no shows at The George in Fordingbridge

The landlady of The George, Caroline Roylance, said it was devastating after 30 people out of 120 didn’t show up for their Saturday evening booking.

Pubs and restaurants were able to reopen on April 12 for the first time in months as coronavirus restrictions eased.

As a result, Ms Roylance said she’s had to turn hundreds of people away, just for one quarter of booked guests to fail to turn up.

“No shows are frustrating for any hospitality business, with Covid we have been closed for 275 days, we have invested in a lot of money in making more outside area, it is pretty much bookings only and on the day we are full,” she said.

“On Saturday, I must have turned away hundreds and hundreds of people, when 30 people don’t turn up, we cant just find 30 other people.

“I have staff to pay, suppliers to pay, it was a quarter of our bookings who didn’t show up.

“it’s probably cost us about £1,000. In the first week I had one specific booking, they didn’t turn up I rang and they said they were sorry. They didn’t show up again this week.”

Ms Roylance said she has a list of people who have repeatedly failed to turn up for their booking, and said it wasn’t fair to keep allowing them to book.

She said she couldn’t take deposits as she has to employ someone to take people’s details for test and trace and can’t afford to hire someone to take deposits.

“It is disrespectful when hospitality businesses have done so much to get open,” she continued.

“We need people to sit down and eat and drink to make money.

“We are so happy to be open, when you are expecting to do a full Saturday night and one quarter don’t turn up it is devastating.

“Twenty-five per cent have just not bothered turning up. We are loving being open, we just need everybody to turn up.”

Has your hospitality business been affected by no shows since reopening? If so, get in touch at ben.williets@bournemouthecho.co.uk.