Liverpool restaurant Maray bans bookings of fewer than six to combat no-shows

Small plates restaurant Maray in Liverpool’s Bold Street has banned bookings for groups of fewer than six people after no-shows hit daily covers by 10-20%.

In an open post on Facebook the joint proprietors James Bates, Dominc Jones and Thomas White explained that they took the step to combat a “dramatic increase in no-shows”, which accounted for anything between 20 and 40 covers a day in the 36-seat restaurant, a sizable 10-20% of their business.

The rise in no-shows has long been a problem for operators across the country. Whilst some have chosen to take customer credit card details and charge a fee for no-shows, Maray decided against this instead opting for a walk-in only policy for groups of up to five.

The owners explained: “We thought long and hard about this option as it would cause the least disruption to our operation. But it just doesn’t feel very us. We want Maray to be a casual, fun experience, and we felt that taking credit card details for every booking would formalise and sanitise this.”

The Bold Street restaurant is part of a trio of Maray restaurants including a site on Royal Albert Docks and another in Allerton. They all offer Parisian inspired dining with Middle Eastern flavours alongside a range of cocktails and wines.

The Royal Albert Docks site will continue to take bookings as it is better able to accommodate no-shows being almost twice as large.