Restaurants give 'worst tables to 'unattractive' people

'Next time you get sat at the back of the restaurant, you'll know why'

What’s that annoying buzz? It’s the sound of raising prospective diners’ hopes of booking a table – and then not letting them do it (Rex Features)

Restaurants deliberately put attractive customers at the front, whilst hiding "ugly" customers out of sight, research has suggested.

As part of new Channel 4 documentary Tricks of the Restaurant Trade, models posing as customers were sent to three leading London restaurants.

Waiting staff allocated them ‘gold tables’, so called because they are often seen as the best seats in a restaurant and the most prominently positioned.

Adam Pearson, an actor whose face is covered in tumours due to neurofibromatosis, also entered with a friend. Footage shows the pair being sat at a less prominent table.

He called the treatment “disappointing” and said: “Next time you get sat at the back of the restaurant, now you know why.”

Chef Simon Rimmer, who features as a presenter on the show, said that such practices were common at top restaurants, although seldom openly discussed. He said: “Every restaurant has a golden table where they sit the best looking customers.A restaurant’s clientele give off a certain message about the place.

“Good looking customers attract more people and make you more cash , so you sit them where they can be seen.”

Neil Gill, who owns Season Kitchen, echoed his sentiments, explaining: “Everybody likes to associate themselves with cool people and good looking people. You want to feel like you are eating in a restaurant where there are other cool people.”

Tricks of the Restaurant Trade airs at 8pm tonight