Should you pay extra for eating alone? That’s the question at many high-end London restaurants this week after the two Michelin-starred Hotel Café Royal announced it would charge solo diners double.
The restaurant, run by Alex Dilling near Regent Street, charges £350 to diners who want to eat on their own, the same price two would pay for the £175 tasting menu. It says that rising prices are to blame, and that people at a table for one take up the same space as two. The site has previously hosted parties with Rihanna, Naomi Campbell, Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn.
The restaurant scene has responded, with Farringdon’s Brutto offering a free spritz to people who come to eat alone. “Solo diners always welcome,” it said online.
The Londoner called around restaurants, asking if they would consider doing the same as Hotel Café Royal. La Gavroche and Sketch told us no. When we rang The Dorchester, they seemed surprised by the notion of any surcharge on solo dining.
But some have backed Dilling’s decision. Ex-Sunday Times critic Marina O’Loughlin said online: “Having met several of the people who fall into the ‘solo fine diners’ category, I think Alex Dilling is right to charge ’em like a rhino”. She went on: “Overwhelmingly, they’re joyless, pretentious box-tickers… they can afford it.”
Podcasters sound off over awards’ £300 fee
Anger at the British Podcast Awards, where people in the industry are being charged more than £300 to attend a lavish ceremony even if they are nominated.
A podcast maker who is up for the rising star award said “the nomination is slightly soured by the fact I can’t afford to go”, while the manager of a podcast company said the price of entry was “extortionate”.
One person who judged in previous years said they were expected to do too much work for free this time, so opted out. Elizabeth Day is chair of the judges. Emily Maitlis, right, and Jon Sopel’s podcast The News Agents looks set to clean up, having been nominated for three awards.
Organisers Haymarket, who bought the company that runs the awards last year, tell us that they are running a bursary scheme to help with tickets. They also promise “unlimited food and drink, great entertainment and an after-party”. £300 worth?
Londoner’s Diary 26th July 23
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Cineworld in Leicester Square got a spooky makeover last night for the premiere of new Disney film Haunted Mansion, a supernatural horror comedy starring Owen Wilson and Danny DeVito. Gravestones adorned the square and the inside of the cinema was covered in cobwebs. The film is a remake of an Eddie Murphy flick from 2003. Out on the blood red carpet were Channel 5 news presenter Dan Walker, Strictly Come Dancing’s Neil Jones, with his pregnant partner Chyna Mills, singer Michelle Heaton with her children, and presenter Olivia Cox.
