BRITAIN’S “strictest landlord” has defended his decision to charge customers extra for not finishing their meals.
Mark Graham, 62, has owned and run The Star pub in the tiny hamlet of Vogue, Cornwall, for the last 27 years.
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He hit back at a customer who tried to shame him online after they were charged an extra £2.40 because they piled their plates high at the £12 all-you-can-eat carvery – but ate barely any.
Verity Farmer, who shared her experience on Facebook, said: “Just been for a Sunday carvery at the Star Inn, Vogue, St Day.
“We paid for our meal at £12 each, and when we got our bill it had got an extra £4.80 added.
“When questioned about it they said it was a charge for not eating all our meal. I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
Her post prompted nearly 400 comments in less than 24 hours, with The Star Inn’s social media page among those replying.
It said: “We just try and make sure there is enough food for everyone.
“I’m sure if you were a customer later on in the day and I had to tell you I had no food left for your booking because it had all been wasted and gone in the bin you would not be very happy and would have made another social media post too.”
Now Mark – a former tin miner who also served in the Royal Navy – has defended the policy, which is outlined in notices inside the eatery.
He says it is the first time in 20 years he has enforced the rule – and only did so after the two diners told him they had enjoyed the meal.
Mark shared a photo of the leftover food on social media and insisted the nominal charge would only cover the raw ingredients they left but not the equipment, staff or energy.
He said: “I’m not strict but I’m a straight talking Cornish landlord. Ask anybody who comes in for a meal, I’m an easy-going Cornish boy. I tell people ‘fill your boots, have as much as you like, as long as you eat it’.
“When young children come in with their parents we say don’t buy them a meal, we give them an empty plate and say share some of yours and come up if you want more, as long as you eat it.
“We keep it at £12 for a large or £8 for a small because we are a local village pub trying to help the community, we use a local butcher and greengrocer.
“We do as much as we can to keep our prices down but if everybody behaved like these ladies I’d have to put the prices up.
“I think the ladies wanted to shame me because they have been charged, to be honest I think they are just entitled people who believed they would get all the support.
“They tried to say they had only left a few potatoes so they weren’t completely truthful.
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“People on Facebook were saying why not just put the prices up and let people leave what they want, well I keep the price down low for everybody and I’m not going to change that for a few idiots.”
Mark said the pub has deep ties with the local area, hosting the community library, installing floodlights in his field so the village football team can train for free, and hosting 20 different groups from a knitting circle to a motorcycle club.
He said: “We’re a little family run village pub and we want to keep everybody happy, the pub is the hub of this community.
“It’s hugely frustrating because it’s all you can eat, with a normal meal we’ll give you boxes and doggy bags because it’s your food, you’ve paid for it and you can take it away.
What charges can pubs impose on customers?
Pubs can charge customers for a number of things, including:
Prices for food and drink
These must include VAT if the pub is VAT registered, and any compulsory service charge.
Service charge
These are optional and can be left to the customer’s discretion, or added automatically to the bill.
If a service charge is added in this way, the venue must clearly display this on the price list or menu.
Cover charge
A flat charge per person or table is often called a “cover charge”.
If applicable, this cost should be displayed as prominently as other prices on the menu or price list.
Minimum charges
Pubs can also impose a minimum charge per customer.
“With all you can eat the margins are very fine, if everybody piled two meals on a plate and threw one away by the time the later people came in all the food is in the bin because it’s been wasted, it all goes downhill from there.”
Mark was also backed by locals including pensioner John Tozer, 79, who has been a regular at the pub for 40 years.
He said: “He’s a brilliant landlord, I think he was absolutely in the right to charge those ladies.
“You see people pile up their plates like Mount Everest then they can’t eat it, then at the end of the day people come in and there isn’t any left because of other people’s greed. It bloody annoys me.”
Mark and his pub have previously hit the headlines after fashion giant Vogue threatened to sue him.
Condé Nast, the owner of Vogue magazine, sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter ordering him to stop using the name ‘Vogue’ as it is their name – even though the pub is more than 200 years old and the village is older still.
The publishing giant later backed down and apologised, admitting it didn’t do its homework.
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