Carmarthen restaurant hit by suspected 'dine and dash' on opening night

A new Welsh restaurant had its opening day celebrations marred when it claims two people got up and left without paying a £155 bill in what has been described as an alleged “dine and dash” incident.

The Welsh House opened its doors in St Catherine’s Walk in the centre of Carmarthen just over a week ago. There was much excitement in the town leading up to the restaurant’s opening, with The Welsh House - which already had venues open in Cardiff, Swansea and Neath - taking over a town centre building which had been empty since Frankie and Benny’s closed down in 2023.

So far, the restaurant has enjoyed strong customer ratings and responses on Google Reviews and TripAdvisor, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the new business thanks to a large bill which went unpaid on opening night. For the latest Carmarthenshire news, sign up to our newsletter here.

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The bill in question came to £155.60 for two diners who ordered food and drink including fillet steaks at more than £30 each, cockles and laverbread, £25 bottles of Malbec wine and Irish whiskey coffees. The Welsh House has released a CCTV image of the two people it accuses of leaving without paying - who are seen departing the restaurant on Friday, October 25, at 9.47pm - in the hope that they will come forward.

Restaurant bosses are asking the diners to return to The Welsh House and settle their tab, in the hope that “leaving without paying was a genuine mistake”. A spokesperson for the restaurant said: “We opened our doors on Friday, October 25, and our team has loved preparing our wholesome Welsh dishes and serving our fantastic customers here in Carmarthen. Unfortunately, on the evening of our opening day, a couple dined with us and left without paying their bill.

“We put a message out on social media as we truly hoped it was an oversight and that the couple would come forward and settle what they owe. The response from the public and the town has been incredible. People understand that hospitality is a tough sector. Average profit margins are between just 3% and 5% and a ‘dine and dash’ incident can mean the difference between making a modest profit or a loss on any day.

"We remain committed to providing honest food made from the best locally sourced Welsh produce and to keeping our authentic dishes affordable for all our customers. We want to thank everyone for their support. It has been truly humbling. From people popping in to ask how we are all getting on to seeing positive messages online.

“We do have CCTV of the couple who were at table 6. As a restaurant, we don’t want to ‘name and shame’ people as we hope that leaving without paying was a genuine mistake. In an ideal world, they would simply return and pay the bill, and we can all draw a line under the event and get back to what matters to us more than anything in the world - delighting our brilliant customers here in Carmarthen and showcasing amazing producers from across Carmarthenshire and Wales.”

Incidents of ‘dine and dash’ have been prevalent in the news in recent months. Earlier this year Ann and Bernard McDonagh, from Sandfields in Port Talbot, were jailed after leaving a series of expensive restaurants without paying. They targeted five restaurants across Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and Porthcawl. In total they ate food worth more than £1,000 from the establishments without paying for it, but were identified after CCTV images were posted online.

Across the border, a “bungling” couple reportedly left a top seafood restaurant in Cornwall this summer without paying in what the manager described as the “worst crime ever”. He said: They ordered a bottle of wine and some food and were looking and acting quite shifty and then began discussing various things before complaining the fish was a bit small as a diversionary tactic...Then they glugged their bottle of wine and the husband ran off with his hood up sort of incognito. They were just taking the absolute p**s basically.”

Dyfed-Powys Police were notified on Wednesday, November 6, of the suspected 'dine and dash' in Carmarthen and the force has been asked to comment on whether it is investigating the incident.