Care to dine? That's £100 a head before you even order

Some restaurants now require minimum spends and deposits to stave off no-shows and influencers. Hannah Twiggs asks if this is a necessary evil or another way to squeeze customers

- Hannah Twiggs

Once upon a time, booking a restaurant was simple: you found a place, called up, made a reservation and crucially turned up. Now, in an era where dining out is already an expensive endeavour, restaurants are adding yet another hurdle: minimum spends.

London’s top spots are now enforcing spending thresholds, turning tables into high-stakes investments before you’ve even glanced at the menu. At Gymkhana, the first Indian restaurant in London to receive two Michelin stars, that’s £100 a head. Hutong, a northern Chinese restaurant in The Shard, demands £80 per person on weekends.

Chutney Mary, another Indian restaurant, which has been going since 1990, expects you to drop at least £60. Even if you just fancy a quick cocktail and a dessert at Jean-Georges at The Connaught hotel, you’ll need to part with £50 per person to secure a spot. What was once a courtesy booking is becoming a financial commitment.

For restaurants, this is a necessary defence against rising costs, reservation-squatting and social media freeloaders. But for diners, it’s yet another way of extracting cash in an already pricey dining landscape. The real question is: who are restaurants actually fighting? The culprits – no-shows, bots and influencers – or the ordinary customers left holding the bill?

Let’s be clear: running a restaurant right now is no easy task. The hospitality industry has been battered by rising costs, post- pandemic recovery struggles and shifting dining habits. Noshows are rampant, online bots are reselling reservations and ultra-wealthy diners – once reliable big spenders – are leaving the country in droves.