Chorlton bar and restaurant The Laundrette has hit out at a customer who left it a 1-star review on TripAdvisor, despite not turning up for her booking.
The customer, who was unhappy at being charged a £60 ‘no-show’ fee after she ‘forgot’ to cancel her booking at the busy eatery over Christmas, made her feelings known on the public review site in a long rant.
Revealing that she also works in the hospitality industry and ‘understand it’s their policy to debit a table that hasn’t shown up, and they were just following procedure’, she went on to say that she still felt she should be issued a refund.
After her card was debited, she had emailed the restaurant to ‘explain the circumstances’ and after twelve days had still not heard back on her request – leading her to take to TripAdvisor to make her feelings known more publicly.
Image: The Laundrette, Chorlton
The customer, going under the name Lauren B, said that she works in an independent restaurant in Chorlton and had booked a family meal at The Laundrette on 30 December 2021 in advance.
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On the day, however, she says a couple of her family members were taken ill with Covid and she herself was being asked to go into work to cover for her head chef, who had also tested positive with the virus.
Saying that she ‘may have forgotten to cancel’, she goes on to appeal for some sort of solidarity in her bid for a refund, making comparisons with her own workplace saying: “At my restaurant we wouldn’t just bill the card payer and not display any sympathy to the circumstances.
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“It’s unprecedented times for everyone at the moment, but especially the hospitality industry, and I know that we have barely made it through this festive period due to staff constantly isolating, tables no-showing, bringing front of house staff into the kitchen to cover in emergency circumstances.
“But I would like to think that despite these uncertain times, local businesses still appreciate human error and genuine mistakes.”
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She also implied that the Laundrette didn’t need to charge her for the no-show as she ‘can see out my window [they] are constantly flipping tables.’
The restaurant has since replied, saying: “Your table sat completely empty for 2 hours on a day we were fully booked.
“This is why you were charged.”
Taking aim at the unhappy customer, it went on to say that as a hospitality worker herself she ‘should know way more than most how detrimental tables not showing up is for a small businesses.’
The post continued: “And on top of that you then seem to think it’s acceptable to leave a bad review on trip advisor despite knowing you are 100% in the wrong.
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Image: The Laundrette, Chorlton
“We make it extreamly easy to cancel bookings. You can do it online yourself. You can message us on any social media platform. You can call us.
“As you live on the road you could have easily just mentioned it to any of our staff while walking past.
“Unfortunately you didn’t bother doing any of these.”
Adding that ‘we hate charging no shows but it’s the only way to protect ourselves’ the restaurant’s public relations manager finished by inviting her to give him a call, but not before delivering one more blow.
“Normally we are absolutely demoralised by negative reviews but… I’m more than happy for this to stay up and be public so everyone can see.
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“Not showing up for restaurant bookings is an extremely rude and disgusting practice.
“It’s the only reason we have put our charging system in place.”
Netflix drops the first trailer for upcoming Peaky Blinders film
Danny Jones
It looks like Christmas has come early for TV drama fans and cinephiles, because Netflix has officially dropped the first trailer for the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie.
Popcorn at the ready – even the teaser alone has got us fired up.
ln just 70 seconds, they’ve managed to pull us right back in, and we cannot wait to see Cillian Murphy back in full-on Tommy Shelby mode.
Not exaggerating when we say we have LITERAL chills.
As you can see, they certainly haven’t scrimped on the budget with the first-ever feature-length Peaky Blinders film, neither in terms of production value nor the cast.
Then again, having already hosted the likes of Sam Neill, Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, Anya Taylor-Joy and others in the series itself, as well as going on to become one of the most successful BBC shows of all time, they were never going to.
We’re sure you spotted plenty of them for yourselves, but the debut trailer for The Immortal Man gives us not only our first glimpses of now Oscar-winning Murphy, 49, back in the saddle (both figuratively and literally) but also fellow blockbuster Irish actor, Barry Keoghan.
Other big names set to appear in the movie – set for a limited release in theatres before launching exclusively on Netflix – include Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth. It still remains unclear, however, as to how any of these characters will knit into the new season.
It’s also worth noting that the trailer shares a little snippet of the historical context, this continuation of the Shelby story is playing into, as we see what looks to be Nazi figures meeting on screen.
Creator Steven Knight has already confirmed that the plot will fast-forward some years to meet back up with Tommy at the outset of WWII and his ancestral home of Birmingham during the Blitz.
Having already confirmed 6 March as the theatrical release date ahead of it going live on Netflix a fortnight later, the anticipation was seriously starting to ramp; this latest look has only added to the tinderbox of excitement.
What do you make of the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man trailer, and will you be watching it?
Appeal to find two individuals after man is left with ‘serious head and face injuries’ in Altrincham attack
Danny Jones
Trafford Police are trying to find two men following an attack outside a takeaway in Altrincham earlier this year.
The incident, which took place outside Canada Grill on Railway Street a couple of months ago, has left one individual with serious.
Reported to have occurred at around 2am on Sunday, 19 October, the identity of the pair who have since been revealed on CCTV footage is still unknown.
You can see both male suspects pictured below.
#APPEAL | Can you help us identify these men as we believe they can help with our investigation of an assault at Canada Grill, #Altrincham on 19/10/25 at 2am?
The victim has serious injuries to their head and face
Since shared by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) at large on social media, officers investigating the case are appealing for anyone who recognises them to come forward.
While the exact extent of the damage done and the condition of the other person involved in the altercation has not been fully disclosed, they are believed to have been left with significant “head and facial injuries”.
Georgina Pellant -
18th January 2022 
