Thanet pub customer sentenced after refusing to pay almost £100 food and drink bill

Kent Police did not name the individual or the specific pub in its post, and the exact sentence imposed has not been disclosed in publicly available material. The behaviour described — consuming food and drink then declining to pay — falls within the offence of making off without payment under section 3 of the Theft Act 1978, which applies when a person dishonestly leaves or refuses to pay for goods or services where payment on the spot is expected. Under that legislation, a person convicted on indictment faces up to two years’ imprisonment; a summary conviction can result in imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Kent Police data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows 174 reports of non-payment of food or drink from restaurants, cafés or bars were recorded in one recent year, with 98 further reports logged between January and June of the following year — an average of more than 15 such incidents per month across the county. The Thanet case is one of a continuing pattern of this type of offending recorded by the force.

The specific sum of almost £100 is taken from Kent Police’s statement and has not been independently verified from publicly available court records.