A restaurant has caused a stir after naming and shaming customers who reserved tables but failed to turn up.

The Cauldron, in Bristol, shared on Twitter a list of names and the times scheduled. The customers had booked in to dine on Valentine's Day .

According to the restaurant, the people included in the public outing had not called to cancel their reservations, instead opting to leave the chefs and waiting staff thinking they were due a full house.

Many in the hospitality sector have talked about the issue before – it's a big problem, especially for independent businesses.

It means restaurants lose out because they hold tables for diners they think are going to come in. Had they been made aware of cancelled bookings, there would likely be time to find new customers.

The tweet struck a chord with people across the country. Numerous influential critics, food writers, chefs and business owners have talked about how damaging it is for restaurants.

Cauldron co-owner Henry Eldon told the Bristol Post that he hadn't intended national attention, instead finding it impossible not to vent his anger and yet another night of no-shows.

"It is very frustrating when you have to turn away regular customers from nearby because you are full but then those tables go unused," he said.

It's a popular restaurant, but the industry is tricky

"We don’t take deposits because it is a faff and people don’t like to but it’s killing the industry.

"What has been interesting is the support we have got from customers and other restaurants afterwards which is really nice to see."

Henry mentions some restaurants choose to take deposits. For higher-end establishments with lengthy waiting lists, the practice can work – but many smaller businesses lose trade as it puts some people off.

Henry, who's run The Cauldron for two years, said he started running deposits on Sundays, with a huge drop in no-shows. But it's much harder to do during the week, when tables can be more difficult to fill.

He added: "This is not about a restaurant trying to fill itself its about the industry as a whole.

"We are doing well but the economy is hard at the moment. Food prices are high and that means losing a few tables really makes a difference, it’s tough going.

"We all have to work together on this."

The Cauldron, which relies solely on a cast iron cauldron on a Victorian iron stove to cook, has been widely praised for its novel approach in the kitchen.

While Henry's public 'shaming' was further than most restaurants care to go, others have been quick to air their aggravation at people who lack common courtesy.

The eponymous chef-owner of Menu Gordon Jones wrote on Twitter that he also suffered: "F****** pissed off £400 in revenue lost and probably a relationship or 2 sorry to everyone who tried to get a table and we could not help you. # noshow this is how # restaurantsgobust".

On Valentine's Day, Gordon had a fully booked restaurant and a waiting lost of 47 people. Yet by the evening, a big group hadn't turned up. He got lots of support online.

Local Simon Dormand wrote on Twitter: "Rude, inconsiderate and unacceptable.

"If you ever introduced a deposit or just took a credit card number to secure a booking, I'd be happy to do that.

"I hope you add these people to a 'No future bookings' list."

But Gordon explained why deposits aren't always the way to go. Instead, he proposed another solution.

He told the Bath Chronicle : "I don't really want to introduce a deposit because then there is the hassle of having to justify it.

"What I might do in future is make big events, like Valentine's Day, a ticketed event. People will pay for their ticket beforehand so we won't lose out if there is a no-show.

"The annoying thing is, we had called the people who had booked the table the day before and on the morning of Valentine's Day - specifically to check they were coming.

"When they didn't show, we rang them up and they said that five people were now coming, not four as had been arranged.

"We rearranged the table and then they still didn't arrive. We rang them again and they said they had cancelled the table ages ago.

"To be honest, 99 per cent of the time people are really good about showing up, but it really annoyed me that the group didn't come on Valentine's Day.

"I had had a man ring up desperate for a table on Valentine's Day so he could save his marriage. It was just embarrassing to have this empty table on the night."

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