By Natasha Anderson and Summer Goodkind
19:34 30 Oct 2023, updated 20:34 30 Oct 2023
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A party of seven who tucked into an enormous Sunday lunch including oysters and lobster thermidors that cost an eyewatering £489 before allegedly ‘doing a runner’ fled the restaurant in an untaxed £40,000 Audi, MailOnline can reveal.
Furious bosses at Stubbs Restaurant in Ashford, Kent today released CCTV footage of the diners that they claim drove off ‘as fast as they could’ after the meal.
The footage reportedly shows the group leaving in an Audi worth approximately £40,000 and, according to DVLA records, is untaxed.
Stubbs Restaurant released the CCTV photos after publicly shaming the group on Facebook and sharing the receipt for their staggering nearly £500 bill.
The eatery has asked that the ‘please come back and pay your bill’, adding that they are a private restaurant that ‘will not survive with you doing this to us’.
Did YOU see what happened? Email [email protected]
A post by the restaurant said the group left without paying the tab which totalled £489.90.
According to images of the customers’ receipt, the group enjoyed three lobster, crab and shrimp cocktails which cost £59.95.
They then allegedly 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.
For their mains, the large party 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 bought drinks 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.
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. 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 MailOnline 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, MailOnline 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.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
