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A restaurant in Cornwall has banned vegans - and another could now follow suit, after its chef spent a whole morning preparing a special meal for six vegans, who then cancelled their booking.

The High Tide Seafood restaurant at St Agnes had previously said they had a 'no vegan' policy after being 'stung' several times having made vegan dishes.

Now, Ken Symonds, who runs Olivers restaurant in Falmouth, said he was considering a policy change after working on four courses for the table, who then cancelled on the day, reports Cornwall Live.

The restaurateur has been backed by chefs across Cornwall, who said cancellations - particularly from customers needing drastic menu alterations - happened regularly and were leaving them struggling.

Ben Prior, of Ben's Cornish Kitchen in Marazion, who was the first chef in Cornwall to introduce a £10 deposit for all diners last year, said he had also had a cancellation from a table of vegans this week, as did The Rising Sun in Truro.

He later said he didn't have a problem with vegans and was happy to cater for any dietary requirements - but he struggled with late cancellations.

Bruce Rennie, who owns The Shore in Penzance, said he had a no-show for a table of three booked using a fake name and phone number.

One chef in Cambridgeshire has decided to name and shame all customers who book a table at his restaurant then fail to show up and he's even started a hashtag on Twitter #stopnoshow.

Nik Boyle, who runs the Victoria Inn in Perranuthnoe, which was deemed to have the best pub food in the country in a review in The Times, said at the time: "It's beyond a joke."

"We have lost about £2,500 in December from last minute cancellations or no shows. It's got to epidemic if not pandemic levels.

"If I ordered £500 worth of goods from you then phoned an hour before you were to deliver it after you'd paid staff and materials would you just bin it and accept the loss?"

Many of the chefs Cornwall Live spoke to, including Nik, believe that the majority of no-shows are visitors to Cornwall who hedge their bets by booking two or three restaurants on a certain night, visit their chosen one and then leave the others with empty tables, which are too late to fill.

Bruce Rennie, who owns and runs The Shore in Penzance, added: "I've been in the industry for 25 years and I've never known it as bad as this in Cornwall.

"Locals seem to make reservations and honour them. I don't want to belittle visitors to Cornwall but it does appear to be people coming from outside the county who are booking a few places and only turning up to one.

"I don't think people do it deliberately but I do think there's a general feeling that restaurants make lots of money, which they don't. Every little penny counts down here. If I can't pay a waitress as a result of a table not turning up that has an immediate effect on the local economy."

Bruce's way of tackling the problem is to phone every booking to confirm they are attending but "that takes up half an hour of my day when I should be cooking".

He added: "The industry needs to react even if that means taking a deposit, which then comes off the bill. Anywhere else, from the theatre to the cinema, you pay upfront. Why should it be any different for a restaurant?"

Ben Prior, of the award-winning Ben's Cornish Kitchen in Marazion, said: "Like every restaurant, we've always had an issue with no-shows as Cornwall is more prone to it because it's a tourist destination.

"But this year has seen it get extreme. We got absolutely smashed because of it in July and have lost about £10,000 throughout the year as a result of people not turning up."

Another chef who has long campaigned about the issue is Phil Thomas of the Rosewarne Manor at Connor Downs.

He stated: "I believe a contributing factor is that with the proliferation of restaurants in Cornwall today, people don't seem to associate eating out with the fact you are actually responsible for providing someone with a living.

"People are so used to chains such as Costa, Subway, Harvester, etc, that there is a disconnect between the diner and small neighbourhood restaurant."

Phil declared: "At Rosewarne we have seen a steady increase in no shows over the past 12 months which is both annoying and costly from an operational point of view.

"I have had staff in place to work based on bookings and then have been left with them standing idle when guests have not bothered to arrive for their table."