FRUSTRATED business owners have urged people to have “more respect” after seeing an increasing number of would-be customers not turning up – costing some businesses thousands of pounds in losses.

Some pubs and restaurants are continuing to operate on a booking-only basis while Covid restrictions are still in place.

However bosses have warned that they’ve seen a rise in the number of people not turning up to their booking without cancelling – meaning a large number of tables are left empty.

Steve Haslam, owner of the Bread and Cheese pub, saw a loss of £2,000 last Tuesday after a staggering 80 people didn’t turn up to their bookings.

Mr Haslam said: “For the last football match the total of no-shows was 80. We estimated a loss of £2,000 in takings.

“The frustration is we sort the security and staff in preparation. When you’re small and independent it can be devastating.

“I only have a temporary license on the pub at the moment and anything that affects sales affects the potential of us going long term, so that’s also frustrating given the effort we’ve put into this.

“We’re asking customers to show us courtesy to give us notice if they are not going to turn up. Have a little bit of respect for the businesses in terms of them making a living.”

“We don’t want to impose a deposit scheme but if we have to, we will.

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Nicola Tinney, manager of the Borough Hotel, said it’s vital people let owners know as they continue to recover from the pandemic.

She said: “We have had a few people just not turning up.

“We’re lucky that if people haven’t turned up we’ve normally been able to rebook the table.

“We’d just ask people to let us know they are not coming, even if it’s just half an hour before.

“We’re still recovering and we want all our tables full and everyone to turn up.”

Sara Welton, owner of Sara’s Tea Gardens in Leigh, has now made a point of asking all customers to let them know if they won’t be attending their booking to try and get around the problem.

She said: “We have seen some no-shows to be honest.

“It was more at the start when people were booking outside seating. I think they were booking more than one place and then forgetting to cancel the ones they weren’t going to.

“I’m finding now that I have a ritual of saying to customers when they book that if they can’t make it to just let us know and that seems to have been working.

“Some businesses could lose a lot of money if four or five tables don’t show up and it’s just selfish.

“I would just urge people to try to think of others and pick up the phone.”