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Bully's Restaurant Names And Shames No Shows On Social Media

Bully's Restaurant Names And Shames No Shows On Social Media

The Cardiff-based eatery posted the full name and mobile number of a customer who made a reservation and didn't attend

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

There are some things that are just too ironic. Ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife, kind of ironic.

Or nastily venting frustration from a business account with the personal details of a customer who didn't show up and said restaurant being called Bully's. Awkward.

Now Cardiff-based eatery, Bully's, has come under fire for sharing the personal booking details of a customer who failed to show up.

The restaurant, which was awarded AA Restaurant of the Year in Wales 2014-15, hit out after a table of six and a table of two failed to show up on Saturday evening.

After trying to get in touch with the no shows, Bully's owner, Russell Bullimore, took to Twitter to vent his frustration.

The tweet included the name, phone number and email address of one of the diners who had booked.

Wales Media

The person named in the tweet, Emily Quinlan, responded on Twitter saying she could not attend due to an emergency.

She also wrote: "I will be passing this on to the Information Commissioner's office. Your complete lack of professionalism and decorum has clearly lost you a lot of custom already."

The offending tweet has been removed and an apology on the restaurant's Twitter account, which has 8,500 followers, has been issued.

The grovelling message, which has also been deleted now, read: "Apologies for last nights tweet guys. It was fuelled by emotion and for that we can only apologise profusely.

"Please remember that this is a family business run by passion and a strong community spirit. We're not a chain restaurant, we're an independent that loves what we do."

Wales Media

Russell said that growing frustration with no-shows led to the initial tweet.

He added: "You take bookings and try and call them back and sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't.

"If I don't get them on the landline I'll try on my mobile and they'll answer and often say, 'Oh I cancelled' or there's some excuse, or they'll just hang up."

"I lose about 12 people a week who book, and it's about £40 per person. In a year it can add up to £50,000.

"The table of six no-show last night - I rang them and they said I cancelled on Wednesday.

"I know every person who has called, and if they are cancelling I thank them for ringing in time. I am constantly checking my phone, my emails. My phone currently has more 'no-shows' listed than actual friends."

Russell Bullimore.
Wales Media

When asked about sharing personal details, he said: "I just think and then do things. I'm going to put an apology on Twitter.

"It's a mobile number and a name. If someone has a car crash and takes a picture of the car's number plate they can be ID-d from that.

"I get cold calls all the time because my details are out there."

Addressing the issues of no-show diners is one that has been a wider problem for Welsh restaurants in recent months, but Russell is in two minds about taking deposits.

He said: "I don't want to have to start taking money off people before they sit down, I want people to pay for food because it deserves it. I'll probably have to invest in some way of getting people's credit card details [for deposits].

"Out of everyone who doesn't show what percentage of them has a life problem?

"It's common courtesy, lots of them probably have a hangover or can't be bothered or have gone somewhere else. Not all people do. But people used to be more courteous to each other. "

Media Wales

People have since taken to twitter in outrage with one saying: "Some business's lack of decorum and understanding is crazy! People have lives and sometimes things come up!

"But sharing someone's personal data for not showing up to a booking is beyond disgusting! I've never been to your restaurant and now I will never".

Another wrote: "You tweeted out personal information after not turning up for 26 minutes?! Jeeeez. You guys were on my list for must visits in Cardiff, but not anymore."

Not a great weekend for Bully's then? Ouch.

Featured Image Credit: Wales Media

Topics: Food, Restaurant, Interesting, Fail, Community, UK, Wales