London dining service charge
 

I've been reading dozens of menus for London restaurants and find this line on many of them:

> A discretionary service charge of 12.5% will be added to your bill <

What exactly does this mean? Whose discretion does this depend on? Is one to simply pay it or should one discretely take it off the bill?

Is this peculiar to London or will we find it in Liverpool and the Peak District, too?

I don't get it and I don't remember it from earlier trips, although it was probably there on our last few trips to London.

It's has been around for some time now. Basically it's a tip. I have seen at least one English guy throw a fit and refuse to pay. Not worth the hassle IMO. I always pay it and never add to it unless service is exceptional. Don't add another tip onto the bill.

You can have it removed -- Here is an article from yesterday's telegraph about some new regulation being considered.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...charge-to-bil/

It was there in 2013 when I was in London and a few other places in England.
I only deducted it once due to absolutely abysmal service. We paid in cash and I just deducted the service amount. They didn't say anything.

Service charges have been part of the British restaurant industry for the past several decades. The legal obligation the sentence creates is pretty vague, though in practice declining to pay it is a reasonably hostile act.

The norm is to pay it, unless you've got strong grounds for protesting against seriously bad service, and to pay no other kind of tip (again: unless someone did something exceptionally meritorious). It's legal (though in most of Britain now rare) for restaurants to solicit a second charge - for example by allowing their card terminal to ask if you want to pay a tip. This is generally regarded as downright bad form, and should be strenuously (and IMHO, loudly) resisted and complained about.

The practice is almost universal in sit-down restaurants with table service, and doesn't vary geographically. The only real exceptions these days are very traditional operations, like independent tearooms and greasy spoons.

Oddly the question coincides with a government announcement of a consultative process about the practice: both about how restaurants charge and about who the money goes to (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g...al-for-workers ).

Except for the one time I took the tip off the bill I paid the tip in cash as I had read something about tips not actually going to the server.
I have an Italian friend who worked as a waiter in London and he told me recently that at one fine dining place he worked at they were instructed to tell patrons that yes the tip went to them if anyone asked. But in fact, the tips went to the owner.

Very common. No need to tip on top of the charge. If you don't want to tip you can ask for it to be removed, but that is uncommon.

<<The practice is almost universal in sit-down restaurants with table service, and doesn't vary geographically.>>

No, it's not the norm outside London except for very top end restaurants or for large parties.

"it's not the norm outside London except for very top end restaurants or for large parties"

Simply untrue.

Indeed, the reason the issue has become politicised is that "discretionary service" is becoming the norm in the plastic chain sit-down places (a category no longer limited to a few pizza joints) that have come to dominate our High Streets from Inverness to Penzance.

Where I'd accept there may be regional differences is in truly independent, chef-centric, proper restaurants. In my experience, these are more likely to charge service in London and its minilondon clones within an hour's train ride than in the rest of the country.

Thanks for the clear explanations. I will of course not object but I may keep my eyes open for an extra tip line on cc receipts.

I come from a tipping culture so tipping doesn't bother me; I just don't remember seeing this in the past on every menu I perused online.

You'd think with Brits becoming very used to these charges added to their bill and paying them without making an issue even though servers there are paid a living wage, that they would be less likely when visiting the States to avoid leaving any significant tip even though they are usually aware that here servers do not make a living wage -- but depend on tips.

I kind of understood the well known fact that many Brits didn't tip for service in the states back when they didn't do it at home, but now that they DO pay that charge at home, it seems more bizarre that they refuse to tip when abroad.

"The practice is almost universal in sit-down restaurants with table service, and doesn't vary geographically."

Flanner you normally get my vote but no, very much southern English and UK chains.

We also used to have a one off table fee for larger groups, now long gone.

I have to ask. If it is a tip for service,why would the 12.5 % go to the owner? Why not just ask for it to be removed and then tip your server in cash? We are accustomed to tipping,but the person who made our meal enjoyable not the business. If that is the case, why would anyone pay it? They are essentially charging you 12.5% more for your meal. Sounds like a sneaky way to raise prices which doesn't benefit the server at all. Also, at home if the tip is added to the bill my husband gets irritated and that is all the server gets. Whereas if not included, he will tip closer to 20% or better depending on the experience.

Consider as in Belgium. Tip is included in price and the owner must use it to pay his personal (all of them not only waiters) decently.

I saw this discretionary tip in the Nepalese non gastronomic restaurant in went to on Stockport last month. Habit is spreading ?

Flanner you normally get my vote but no, very much southern English and UK chains.>>

and it's by no means universal in Cornwall, in fact I'd say that it's the exception rather than the rule.

I think in many cases the service charge is collected by the restaurant and then redistributed to servers and kitchen staff. If you pay cash to the server they may just pocket it without sharing it with other members of staff that have helped make your night enjoyable but we're not visible to you. Some places state what the policy is on the menu so you know it is going to your server or being shared amongst staff.

Some places state what the policy is on the menu so you know it is going to your server or being shared amongst staff.>>

and some state that and are lying.

it just goes to show that all tipping is a minefield and should be abolished in favour of the staff being paid a proper wage and that being reflected in the prices so we all know where we are.

I like to think the ones that make the point of telling what their policy is follow it. But I suppose that makes me naive. I agree annhig, I wish tipping would just become an extinct practice.

The best advice here is not to add a tip, and I find it infuritating when they offer that option ( on the bill ) in additional to the usual 12.5% I just slash a line through it. If my server has been unusually helpful, I leave a bit of cash.

I agree with annhig in that it can all be a bit of a muddle as to who and if staff gets tipped, but I'll leave it to someone else to try and solve that problem.

What does making a living wage have to do with the quality of service you receive? If you feel it is of exceptional quality then does that deserve additional money? For some of us it does and we do not pretend that what the server makes in a salary is some sort of an excuse not to recognize and reward outstanding service.