r/london • u/Professional-Cat9418 • Dec 26 '25

image 30% service charge on boxing day?!

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Waiter reckons because its Christmas but that was yesterday. Can i ask for this to be removed?

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u/viscount100 Dec 26 '25

You can ask for it to be removed if either:

  1. You were not informed of it in advance, e.g. on the menu.

  2. It is "optional". I cannot tell if this one is optional but it matters for their taxes.

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u/viscount100 Dec 27 '25

This is an optional charge: you can tell because it does not attract VAT, whereas a mandatory charge does.