A restaurant has hit out at 'rude' diners who failed to show at a popular Ayrshire eatery at the weekend.
On Sunday, The Jewel in Kilmarnock said that they were fully booked for the entire day and had even been forced to turn tables away the previous day because of how busy it was.
But devastated bosses at the Portland Street venue say that 32 diners were no-shows, branding the inconsiderate behaviour as damaging to the business.
With margins tight for the hospitality industry, the restaurant, which used to be known as The Jewel in the Crown, said that they draft in extra staff for busy days.
The restaurant posted on Facebook on Sunday night: "What a disappointing day for us. We were fully booked all day today turning tables away since yesterday.
"Today we have had 32 people not show up. This is so damaging for a small business, not to mention just rude not to cancel!
"What people don't realise is that we staff for busy days and put extra help in the kitchen and when it turns out not to be a busy day it costs us money!"
The blow for the restaurant comes as it relaunched Eat Out to Help Out last week in a bid to help diners enjoy a night out on a budget as the cost of living crisis looms large for many people.
Frustrated owners at the restaurant now say they'll have to take a deposit for all bookings in a bid to address the issue of customers not showing up.
The statement continued: "We have put a really good offer on [Eat Out to Help Out] and we feel that people are just ruining it for others.
"We will be putting in place deposits for all tables regardless of size. We have no choice but to do this and we are sorry to all of the customers that book and actually turn up.
"Thank you for everyone's continued custom - rant over."
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