Hands off my table, LIZ HOGGARD tells greedy restaurateurs

From greasy spoons to high-end joints, I’ve eaten solo from Peckham to New York and Thailand to Moldova.

It represents a punctuation mark in the day – a chance to make plans and take care of yourself for an hour or so. It also makes the flat you return to at night feel less empty.

Thanks to a thriving new spirit of women’s empowerment, solo diners are out and proud. The one-person economy is booming.

But last month it emerged that Alex Dilling of the Hotel Cafe Royal, a double-Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant, is charging some diners the minimum price of a table for two for the tasting menu – currently £350. However, couples are charged the same cost split between them .

The same goes for lunches in the 34-seat restaurant, which serves a ‘modern take on French gourmet cuisine’, where a single diner pays £170, while couples pay £85 each.

“I think all the Michelin restaurants in London are raising their prices, if they allow any form of solo dining at all,” a spokesperson for Alex Dilling noted.

It’s a classic own goal. Single women are often high income earners who can afford to pamper themselves on their own.

I recently went for a drink at an upmarket French restaurant in Mayfair and two of the dining tables were occupied by expensive looking women – sitting alone.

But it seems that the ‘single tax’ is back. As solos know, paying twice as much for hotel rooms as those that are part of a couple is bad enough (crazy if we use less towels, less hot water, etc).

And it’s almost impossible to book a single West End ticket because they’re afraid you’ll spoil the range of seats.

The fear is that it will trickle down to the High Street. How long before Cote requires a minimum spend for two?

Will it be a throwback to the bad old days of ‘couples only’ signs in the shop window? I still blush at the memory.

As a freelance writer, I live a lemonade not champagne lifestyle where I book the fixed price and download vouchers.

My new discovery is softlaunchlondon.com (40,000 subscribers) set up by 32-year-old Jimmy Richardson to give as many people as possible the chance to try hot new restaurants.

Thanks to a thriving new spirit of women’s empowerment, solo diners are out and proud. The single-person economy is booming (stock image)

Recently I ate solo at a casino restaurant (I don’t even gamble). But the pleasure of a martini and small plate of oysters (£10) in the six-seater Balcony Bar at the Heliot Steak House in Leicester Square, and then seeing James Norton take the stage (single seat achieved after spending weeks online!) was an adult delight.

I understand why food prices have gone up. And every time I see a chef complain on Twitter that 27 people didn’t show up for dinner, I die of shame. They need our support.

But talking about banning solo diners seems particularly selfish when grabbing a restaurant table has become a gladiatorial sport.

You can’t get into a High Street chain like Franco Manca after 9:45pm, and so many restaurants don’t offer lunch anymore. When I come out of a movie, tumbleweed blows over Soho.

Unless, of course, you have a private membership club. “We pay the kitchen porter £28 an hour – that’s more than I do,” a harassed owner told me.

From the moment you book (after paying a deposit) you are bombarded with text notifications checking if you are still coming. But life is fallible: customers get sick, miss trains. And if you need to cancel your table (within 48 hours of your booking), you may pay the full amount.

According to research, 90 of the top 100 UK restaurants charge for ‘no show’ or late cancellation; some even require full prepayment. Voted Britain’s best restaurant at the National Restaurant Awards, Ynyshir in Wales asks diners to prepay £375 per head for their 30-course tasting menu.

Chef Patron Gareth Ward recommends that guests purchase travel insurance.

It feels like money is being spent on the wrong luxuries. I’d rather have a quiet corner table than techno music.

Talking about banning solo dining seems particularly selfish when getting a restaurant table has become a gladiatorial sport (stock image)

Apparently at Ynyshir you get a DJ who ‘curates’ music that gets louder as the night goes on and atmospheric effects like ‘birch smoke’.

A few years ago, restaurateurs seemed to be making the whole business easier for solo diners, with subtle changes to lighting, menu and seating, with dedicated “counters” for solo diners. We were the new growth industry. Now we’re in the trash!

Funnily enough, I did enjoy dinner at Ynyshir’s a few years ago (my 51st birthday if you ask). But we didn’t pay £375 per person. Not even half. Gareth had just joined as head chef, but then you had the choice of a lighter seven-course tasting menu.

The owner of the hotel, a brilliant woman named Joan Reen, ensured that solo diners were cherished as she walked the dining room spreading gossip and life wisdom.

Later I sent a friend, recently robbed, to stay in Ynyshir. She returned recovered.

Perhaps there was a friendlier (less macho?) atmosphere for dining back then? The fact that the chef’s experience is now more important than the customers is crazy.

That’s why I have a plea for our chefs, whom I admire as true artists. Let’s have less expensive theaters so we can just justify a meal, without a second mortgage.

I just want the chance to people watch and try a new dish. No dry ice and a Croatian DJ.