A couple were "mortified" when they realised they had left a restaurant without paying their bill.
The Watering Can on Greenbank Road previously appealed for two diners to settle their bill after they left the restaurant without paying. After spotting the couple walking out and checking CCTV, it was feared it was a deliberate act.
Owner Phil Sterling appealed for the couple to return and pay their bill as "everyone is struggling" at the moment, adding it was "unfair all round". He said: "It hits the bottom line in all ways, there's the cost of making the food, storing it, producing it, delivering it, clearing up and workers providing a good service throughout, making sure the customer has had a good time. It's unfair all round, not just us as owners but the whole team."
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But Phil confirmed that since the public appeal, the diners have realised their mistake and have since contacted the restaurant to pay the outstanding bill. Writing on social media, the Watering Can said: "The gentleman has called this morning to settle the outstanding bill over the phone after seeing the story in The Echo yesterday.
"He was mortified and did not realise they had not paid the bill until he saw the article."
Phil told the ECHO: "Thanks to the gentleman for contacting us to make the payment. We accept his apology. Making the statement was never about the money, it was more a matter of principle and the CCTV told a clear story of the incident. We will never know what the couple were thinking, so we just put it down to a poor judgement! We are all fallible at the end of day."
Previously speaking to the ECHO, Phil said recent years had been a struggle. He added: "It's been a really tough time, we've had covid to weather, not knowing if we were going to survive that then disruption to the supply chains because of Brexit, we've had increases to the national minimum wage living standards and generally the cost of living crisis our bills have rocketed. It's tough times for everyone but out team works incredibly hard, so for someone to just walk out it's really unfair."
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