A photo taken in a Dublin restaurant has been doing the rounds online. Taken during what would formerly have been the spot’s lunchtime rush hour, the image shows a completely empty room with not even a single other customer in sight.
Shared on social media by Twitter user Paul O’Connor, it’s the caption that hits the true gravity of the image home.
‘1:15pm Friday in Dublin city centre’.
1.15pm Friday in Dublin City centre pic.twitter.com/7KrK0XqulV
— Paul O'Connor (@paulofdub) September 11, 2020
Highlighting the stark reality faced by restaurateurs at the moment, celebrity chef Neven Maguire later retweeted the photo, describing it as ‘so sad’. However, shocking as the image is, it’s sadly not a rare occurrence these days and fellow Twitter users have confirmed that ‘it’s the same everywhere’ and that the lunchtime rush hour no longer exists.
Meanwhile, owners at fellow Dublin restaurant La Peniche took to social media yesterday to share their disappointment after three separate bookings failed to show up. Saying that they are ‘so disheartened’, 11 people who had booked – and later confirmed their bookings – simply just never arrived at the venue, without even so much as a phone call to advise that they wouldn’t make it.
Unfortunately, not the first restaurant to fall victim to no-shows, it’s having to deal with situations like this that make staying open all the more challenging for business owners.
Header image via Twitter/Paul O’Connor
