Brits may be forced to pay before they drink when pubs and restaurants reopen

Brits may be forced to pay up before they sup up when pubs open after lockdown.

Thousands of bars and restaurants could charge customers in advance to avoid no-shows with many already fully booked up for months.

Frustrated revellers have swamped venues across the country with reservations for tables in beer gardens and marquees as soon as they are allowed to re-open on April 12.

Hospitality chiefs said seats were now in such demand many businesses were demanding cash in advance fearing no-shows could leave them empty and out of pocket.

Birmingham restaurant 670 Grams began taking pre-payments for bookings last week.

Customers pay in advance for the 10-course tasting menu which costs up to £70 – plus an optional £55 for drinks.

Owner Kray Treadwell, the Michelin Guide’s young chef of the year, said: “We’re such a small restaurant if the table of four doesn’t turn up on a Friday night then we lose hundreds of pounds.

“It’s like getting a ticket to the theatre. If you can’t go that night you can give it to your friend.”

Angelina, in Dalston, east London, introduced pay-before-you-eat last July after the first national lockdown.

Customers prepay for either a four-course tasting menu at £34 or 10-courses at £59.

Owner and head chef Joshua Owens-Baigler said up to 10% of those who booked a table cancelled or did not turn up leaving staff `scrambling to contact your waiting list’.

“It felt unfair because we put so much effort into preparing the food,” he added.

Since introducing prepayment the restaurant has had only two no-shows.

Carters of Moseley, a one-Michelin star restaurant in Birmingham, introduced payments upfront last July for its £120 tasting menu.

Its owner and head chef Brad Carter said: Our food is quite in-depth and can take up to four days to prep, to brine and braise and cook the meat, so having the money upfront gives us the security of not wasting any products.”

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of the trade association UK Hospitality, said: “No-shows are a nuisance at the best of times but, with businesses still so fragile, their impacts would be hugely compounded.

“It’s right that venues are able to implement measures to shield themselves from the potential hit.

“We hope that customers can be mindful of this when they book.

“It is unsurprising, after the dreadful year we have had, that people are eager to socialise with friends and family again.”

Pre-payment website Tock said the number of UK venues signing up to its service had doubled in the past year.

Last July celebrity chef Tom Kerridge railed against `selfish’ no-shows after a group of 27 failed to appear at Kerridge’s Bar & Grill at the Corinthia Hotel in central London.

He said: “This industry, like many others, is on the verge of collapse. Your behaviour is disgraceful, short-sighted and downright unhelpful.”

Tom backed businesses which have introduced pre-payment, saying: “If you’ve got tickets for a football match and at 3pm on a Saturday you decide you’re not going, the club hasn’t got the opportunity to sell the tickets.”

From April 12 up to six people can meet friends or family in beer gardens or to eat outside.

Indoor seating is due to restart from May 17 providing Covid-19 infection rates remain under control.

The Government hopes to lift all restrictions by June 21 and millions of customers have gambled on lockdown lifting.

Stephen Harris, of gastropub The Sportsman, in Whitstable, Kent, said it was `completely full until September’.

“If you want to come on a Saturday night, we aren’t free until the end of October,” he added.

Within 20 minutes of the Prime Minister’s announcement last month that restrictions will be eased Birmingham restaurant Craft had taken 601 bookings.

Sam Morgan, chief executive of the We Are Craft Group, said: “It’s been an incredible response.

“We have a small amount of availability on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons but otherwise our outdoor private dining pods are pretty much booked up until July.

“The inside is fully booked from when we open in mid-May until July.

“We knew there would be a significant demand, however, it has definitely exceeded our expectations. It’s really reassuring.”

Cocktail bar One Eight Six in Manchester is fully booked for 10 consecutive weekends despite not advertising.

Owner Dean Mac said: “It’s been non-stop. People are desperate for normality.

“People are messaging saying they can’t wait to drink a new cocktail. They want to spend money.”

D&D London, the owners of restaurants such as 20 Stories in Manchester and Angelica in Leeds, said that they have taken double the number of bookings they took in the brief window they were able to open last summer.

Senior sales manager Becky Wilkes said: “We have already taken 50,000 bookings since the announcement and we are still a full month ahead of reopening.”

The bookings surge is a bright spot for the battered hospitality industry which lost £74 billion in sales last year costing 660,000 jobs.

Some 12,000 premises closed in 2020, while high street favourites such as Carluccio’s, Zizzi, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Frankie & Benny’s were forced to restructure.

The Government hopes the bookings revival will help the economy bounce back quickly and consumers will want to spend some of the £180billion they are reported to have saved during lockdown.