The pub charging diners for leaving 'excessive' food waste on their plates

The landlord of a pub that charges customers extra for leaving food on their plates has justified his additional costs.

Mark Graham, the landlord of The Star Inn at Vogue in Cornwall, faced criticism after he charged a pair £4.80 for wasting food.

The pub runs an 'eat as much as you like' carvery for £12, which allows people to go up for seconds. But one of the conditions of the meal is that plates are cleared or else

A couple who came to the pub and ended up being charged said they had "never heard" of such a policy before.

Verity Farmer took her grievances to the Newest Newquay Facebook group, and wrote: "Just been for a Sunday carvery at the Star Inn, Vogue, St Day, we paid for our meal at £12 each, and when we got our bill it had got an extra £4.80 added when questioned about it they said it was a charge for not eating all our meal.

"I've never heard anything like that before."

But Mark Graham has said the charge is not to make money, but to cut down on food waste.

He said: "I don't care about a couple of potatoes getting left. It's just stupid, excessive waste that bothers me. If everyone did that I'd have to cook shed loads of food.

"You can take as much as you like, come back as many times as you like and as the old Navy saying goes, you can fill your boots. Do whatever you want, just don't waste it."

He explained that the extra charge contributes towards the cost of raw materials but doesn't cover expenses for equipment or staff wages.

"I tell everyone, I'm in this game to earn a living, not make a fortune," he added. "

I just like the job. I've always been in and out of this job since I was 14 and it's a way of life. I enjoy it. I'm making a living, not a killing and I'm not ripping people off. We want to help everybody out."

The pub has received a lot of support online for it's policy, while staff posted a photo of the amount of food left by the couple complaining.

Wendy Ann commented: "Never heard of this policy before but what a great idea and clearly this is a ridiculous amount of food to waste and I think not charging for children is brilliant. Great response to the poster and shows how you were fully justified."

Hazel Petrie reflected: "As my mum would have said they had eyes bigger than their belly. I hate to see good food wasted. The notice in the Star Inn is clear enough; I've seen it myself. It says you can go back for more so it's perfectly fair."

Jaz Holmes added: "Brilliant idea. We went to a carvery today and saw a woman pile on 10 roast potatoes. No exaggeration. I commented to my partner what an absolute waste that's going to be. If you're able to go up as many times as you like then there should be absolutely no waste. Take a small plate and go and get more if needed. Simples!"

The original customer's post received more than 400 comments, while The Star Inn itself also weighed in.

"We just try and make sure there is enough food for everyone," staff wrote.

"I'm sure if you were a customer later on in the day and I had to tell you I had no food left for your booking because it had all been wasted and gone in the bin you would not be very happy and would have made another social media post too."