Advertisement

How dogs took over our restaurants

It doesn’t take a genius to grasp that plentiful food and a naturally scavenging animal may not be an ideal mix
It doesn’t take a genius to grasp that plentiful food and a naturally scavenging animal may not be an ideal mix

“Don’t feed the dog from the table!” A common admonishment for us all growing up, when family dogs were still very much at the bottom of the domestic food chain (although as a child, hungry dogs were a dependable ally when trying to dispatch an unwanted piece of kidney, the consumption of which depended on you getting pudding).

But times, as ever, have changed, and now dogs are increasingly common guests at dining tables outside the home too. The boom in lockdown pets – 26 per cent of UK adults now own a dog – has meant that newly minted dog owners eager to return to pre-Covid social dining find themselves saddled with a needy animal.

The answer? Take them with you. In fact, recent research from The Kennel Club found that 55 per cent of dog owners would stay longer in a restaurant (and thus spend more) if they had their pet with them – and the hospitality industry has clearly taken note.

All hail the advent of the dog-friendly restaurant (not to mention restaurants for dogs; Bone Appetite opened in San Francisco last week. On Sundays, it serves a raw “tasting menu” specifically for canines for $75. On other days, pooches can pop in for a doguccino and pawtisserie.

Barrister-turned-restaurateur Nisha Katona now has 14 branches of her dog-friendly Indian street-food chain Mowgli around the UK and opened her first in the capital in November. In London’s recently developed King’s Cross, where people often walk their dogs along the canal, Drake & Morgan has bought in special crockery for visiting hounds, in which paw-secco and a biscuit are served. Dog Beer is available at the nearby Rotunda.

Nisha Katona’s Mowgli chain of restaurants welcomes dogs
Nisha Katona’s Mowgli chain of restaurants welcomes dogs

A little over the top? Well, London’s most dog-friendly restaurant, M in Victoria Street, holds a “Six-Legged Brunch” every Sunday for dogs and their owners as well as quarterly “Pooch Parties” featuring paddling pools, doggy yoga and cook-for-your-dog masterclasses. “We once had a Maltese not only come dressed in a conical bra as Madonna but arrive at the restaurant in a remote-control Porsche blaring out Madonna’s Holiday,” says owner Martin Williams.

Even restaurants that welcome dogs without the promise of a furry floor-show are finding themselves inundated with four-legged visitors. Sam Harrison owns Sam’s Riverside, which occupies a plum spot on the Thames Path by Hammersmith Bridge, beloved of west London dog walkers. “The increase in the number of people who want to bring their dogs to the restaurant is almost unquantifiable,” he says.

Such is the need for places to eat that welcome pets that Nadia Leguel (and her Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Lola) went onto Dragon’s Den earlier this year to try and raise funds for WagIt, her booking platform for dog-friendly restaurants. “The Dragons were really friendly and gave me some good advice,” she says. “Lola didn’t seem to like it though – she walked off while Deborah Meaden was talking.”

Dog-friendly dining is clearly a trend gaining pace, but it doesn’t take a genius to grasp that plentiful food and a naturally scavenging animal may not be an ideal mix. “I recently saw an unleashed dog run into the kitchen and emerge shortly afterwards with some food in his mouth and a chef in hot pursuit,” says Liz Wyse, etiquette advisor to Debrett’s. Yet the fault, she says, rarely lies with the animal. “Dog owners definitely have less idea of how their pet should behave since lockdown and only have experience of looking after their dog at home.” Wyse says that dogs have become the new frontline for restaurant etiquette now that smoking is banned and dress codes binned. “You might think your dog is a miraculous near-human, but your fellow diners are unlikely to agree, so don’t let your dog sit on your lap and put its paws on the table, and under no circumstances should you let it lick your plate.”

Surely it is up to a dog owner to supervise their dog as they would a child? “It’s tricky,” Harrison says. “To some people, their dog is their child. We had a very yappy dog on Saturday night and we had to politely ask its owner to take the dog outside. That should not be something that we have to say. But some customers seem to think that their dog should sit on the chair next to them or be allowed to wander around the restaurant.”

Historically, it’s always been easier to take your dog out with you outside the capital. But with many country pubs going down the full-on gastro route, are the days of the dog-friendly local numbered? The Samuel Palmer is a recently opened gastropub in Shoreham, Kent, where dogs are allowed in the bar but not the dining room, which means that their owners can only eat snacks and not the full menu. “Given the prevalence of dog walkers there, it’s becoming quite an issue,” says one local, who is perplexed by “dog-friendly” description.

It’s a similar story at the multi-award-winning Three Fishes in the prime dog-walking country of the Ribble Valley in Lancashire. “We allow dogs in our main pub at lunch service because we didn’t want to be disconnected from our local community,” says general manager Jessica Moretti. “But we keep dogs to a specific area out of respect for our other guests. We ask that dogs only join us for lunch because we want our dinner service to be when people can relax as we intended.”

WagIt’s Nadia Leguel says that she would rather have Lola fall asleep under the table of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant than take her to a pub, where the music might be too loud and there is the risk of being trodden on. Few high-end restaurants, however, allow dogs. “We don’t accept dogs, we are fine dining,” says Amelia Eiriksson, creative director and co-owner of Ynyshir, the Welsh restaurant voted the UK’s number one at the National Restaurant Awards in June. Only one of the top 10 establishments accepts dogs, but its two-Michelin-starred chef-owner does not wish to publicise the fact.

London’s most dog-friendly restaurant, M in Victoria Street, holds a ‘Six-Legged Brunch’ every Sunday for dogs
London’s most dog-friendly restaurant, M in Victoria Street, holds a ‘Six-Legged Brunch’ every Sunday for dogs

The Food Hygiene Regulations 2013 oblige restaurant owners to prevent domestic animals from having access to places where food is prepared, handled or stored; beyond this, there is no UK law which says dogs are not permitted in restaurants, bars or other licensed premises.

What if a customer refuses to leave a restaurant that has told them their dog is not welcome? “Every hospitality business has the ability to create its own policies governing terms of entry,” says David Roberts, a partner at corporate law firm CMS who specialises in hospitality. “If a restaurant decides to have a no-pet policy, the staff can certainly refuse you entry if you have a dog. The only dog which it is illegal to turn away is a guide dog.”

Surely the time has come for both restaurant owners and diners to seek some form of accommodation with the UK’s estimated 12.5 million mutts. “The easy option would be for us to ban dogs,” says Harrison, “but it wouldn’t be the right option. I want us to be known as a welcoming restaurant that respects everybody who shares this space. It’s not just about you and your dogs. It’s about everybody in the room together. We’re all here to have fun, but first and foremost, it’s a restaurant, not a park.” And having dinner next to a begging dog is no picnic.


Should restaurants welcome dogs or should diners have a maximum of two legs? Let us know in the comments section below