How a community came together to support the ‘dine-and-dash’ restaurant
It’s Tuesday lunchtime in Swansea and Tyrone Rees’s family-run Sicilian restaurant is a hive of activity.
The 60-year-old had always hoped Bella Ciao would be the talk of the town, renowned for authentic cooking and ingredients inspired by the Mediterranean island.
But success, as it always does, came at a price. In Rees’s case, that price was exactly £329.
Just two weeks after opening at the beginning of April, his restaurant reportedly became the victim of an elaborate “dine and dash” scam – “scoff and scarper” might be more apt – a phenomenon that appears to be growing across the country.
The incident allegedly saw a group of eight, believed to be a family, gorge on £27 T-bone steaks, a range of desserts and more than a dozen drinks, before fleeing Bella Ciao without settling their bill.
For Rees, who invested £100,000 in opening the restaurant, it soured the fulfilment of a lifelong dream and brought unwanted financial pressure.
After calling the police, he decided to post CCTV images of the incident on Facebook, where news of his ordeal was seized on and shared widely. Stories by regional, national and international media outlets followed.
Meanwhile, anguish quickly turned to relief for the restaurateur as people rallied around to support the eatery. In fact, Rees says the place has been booked out every night since.
“We’ve had so many people come in, and meanwhile the phone has been ringing off the hook – people from London and Paris. It even made the news in India,” he tells the Telegraph as hearty portions of fresh steamed mussels, Sicilian lasagne and traditional seafood stew are ferried from the kitchen to hungry patrons.
“So many people have got in touch, offering to pay the bill and give us money, and saying they will book and write reviews.
“It reminds us that most people in the world are good. And in a way, it’s been very good marketing.”
Among those at Bella Ciao on Tuesday was Elaine Owen, a local care home director.
“Everyone in the local area shared the post. We were all shocked and disgusted by how much money this cost the restaurant,” she says. “It’s a tight community here and people are outraged. I just wanted to come to show my support.”
That outrage has been felt in other nearby communities too, with several other restaurants claiming to have been targeted in similar fashion.
After Rees’s Facebook post went viral, he was contacted by “at least six” other high-end establishments spanning a 50-mile radius in South Wales, all of which said they had also been the subject of scams in recent months.
On Tuesday, two people were charged with fraud offences in restaurants across the region.
One of the eateries said to have fallen victim to a dine-and-dash episode was the River House lounge and restaurant, on Swansea harbour. Another was La Casona in Neath. The Yard Pizzeria in Cowbridge, Cardiff, also reported being hit.
One nearby pub, which didn’t want to be named, was reportedly targeted twice – losing out on more than £600.
All seem to have also reported a bump in business on the back of the reported scams.
“We had so much support. People offered to set up a GoFundMe [public fundraising] page to recoup the lost money,” says Emily Langford, the manager of The Yard. “We definitely saw a spike in interest.”
River House’s owner, meanwhile, says it was inundated with “messages of support”.The incidents come amid growing concerns over the rising frequency of this type of crime, with experts warning of a wider “epidemic” of theft.
The tactics used by dine-and-dash scammers in particular seem to vary, but all employ an array of cunning techniques to avoid paying for their meals.
In some cases, scammers have been known to eat the majority of a meal, before claiming it is inedible or something is wrong, and ultimately refusing to pay their bill.
Others appear to be targeted because they have more than one entrance, making it easier for dine-and-dashers to escape. If a pub has a beer garden, or play area, for example, thieves will pretend to pop outside before fleeing.
Whatever the method, it is an issue that seems to be increasingly troubling restaurateurs.
Although statistics are not available solely for dine-and-dash scams, industry insiders have reported an anecdotal increase in such crimes.
The uptick ties in with a general rise in shoplifting, which hit a record high last year, with 16.7 million incidents recorded – more than double the figure for 2022. The 2023 spree cost retailers £1.8 billion in total, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Thieves do not seem to be fussy about which businesses they target, be they high-street retailers such as Boots, or high-end independent stores.
Petrol stations have been hit by drivers filling up their tanks before driving off without paying, in cars clad with fake number plates, while nail salons and hairdressers have complained about people receiving treatments then running off without settling up.
Norman Brennan, a retired police officer and director of the charity Law and Order Foundation, which supports victims of crime, warns that the rise is at least partly a result of policing failures.
“Anyone who thinks this rise in theft is down to a cost of living crisis is wrong,” he tells the Telegraph. “This is an epidemic, often driven by gangs, and our streets are now lawless. These thieves know they won’t be caught, as the police can’t cope. And even if they are, they know they will get a lenient sentence. There is so little deterrent.
“The courts, criminal justice system and, sadly, the police are failing in their duty. And the devastation for the retail and hospitality sector is now right across Britain.”
Last year, Cornwall was particularly badly hit by a spate of dine-and-dash incidents, many of which saw thieves feed their entire families before fleeing restaurants, leaving the proprietors hundreds of pounds out of pocket.
In June, a family ran up a £215 bill at the Fisherman’s Arms, near Penzance. A few months later, a family of 12 enjoyed a slap-up £260 lunch at the Britannia Inn, in Par, before leaving in an untaxed Skoda.
Other parts of the country reported similar crimes. In October last year, at Stubbs Restaurant in Ashford, Kent, a family tucked into an enormous Sunday lunch featuring oysters and lobster thermidors, racking up a bill of £489.90, before allegedly driving off “as fast as they could” without paying.
In all instances, the businesses took to social media in a desperate bid to track down the culprits and recoup their losses.
“Please come back and pay your bill! We are a private restaurant and will not survive with you doing this to us,” Stubbs Restaurant posted at the time.
Back in South Wales, the outpouring of support Rees has experienced means he’s more than covered the losses incurred at the hands of the scammers.
“After all the hard work we put into this place, at least something positive is coming out of it,” Rees says.
But not all business owners can count themselves so lucky, hospitality experts warn.
“Many operators are often dealing with cost of doing business increases and tight margins,” says Emma McClarkin, the CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association.
“Any example of so-called ‘dine-and-dash’ can be the difference between making a profit and keeping that business trading.”
