The steakhouse had to cancel Christmas bookings
Nick Horner Senior reporter and Annette Belcher
12:24, 28 Dec 2025Updated 12:25, 28 Dec 2025
The Miller & Carter in Stratford Road, Hockley Heath – one of dozens of venues in the steakhouse chain across the country
A number of families saw their Christmas Day plans ruined after a popular restaurant was forced to close at short notice.
Diners who had booked in at the Miller & Carter steakhouse in Hockley Heath, near Solihull, were left to make alternative arrangements when the venue shut just as guests were arriving for their festive meals. The closure came as a significant blow to families who had paid a premium for the experience, with the restaurant charging £100 per adult and £60 per child.
The steakhouse confirmed that a sudden fault in its kitchen meant no food could be prepared, leaving staff with no choice but to turn customers away. Many families reported that their Christmas was “written off” by the unexpected cancellation, as they struggled to find last-minute dining options on the busiest day of the year, BirminghamLive reports.
The restaurant has expressed regret over the technical failure and is expected to contact affected customers regarding refunds for the cancelled bookings.
Among them were James Munro and his party of 13, including his sister who had travelled up from Devon.
They had a booking at noon, and James was only alerted about the problem when his friend, whose daughter works at the venue, revealed staff had been told ‘not to come in’.
He went to the venue to check for himself and said he was told there was a problem with the extractor fan in the kitchen which meant ovens could not be turned on.
James posted on the venue’s Facebook page: “There were 13 of us booked in for 12noon and we did not receive a call to inform of the situation.
“Safe to say the day has been a write-off. Perhaps if we had been informed early enough we might have had time to pull some scraps together.”
James said he believed some 300 guests were turned away from the venue – including his family-of-five, his sister’s family-of-four and a friend’s family-of-four.
He told BirminghamLive: “It was devastating. I know s*** happens but we didn’t get a call. I found out from a friend whose daughter was told not to come in as it was closed.
“My sister lives in Devon and had come up for a couple of days. At first we thought ‘surely this can’t be true’.
“But the staff looked at us with glum faces and said sorry when we went. They said there was a fault in the extractor fan and the ovens would not turn on.
“We had a noon booking and we were pretty much one of the first on the list.”
He continued: “But where was the phone call? They said they tried to call but we hadn’t missed any calls. We were like ‘what the hell are we doing now’.
“We went to a garage, with a Little Waitrose and got a few bits.
“They didn’t have turkey obviously. We picked up some vegetables and had some chicken breasts in the freezer.
“Subsequently, we had a call from the restaurant saying they would offer a meal ‘on us’. But I don’t go there and my sister lives in Devon. It doesn’t quite cut the mustard.
“We spent £85 at Little Waitrose – they could pay for that.
“We had some broccoli, McCain’s roast potatoes and got a couple of bottles of alcohol that we didn’t think we’d have needed. And a couple of naff vanilla cheesecakes.
“But not your normal trimmings. The meal we’d paid for cost £420. I haven’t had a refund yet.”
He added: “Surely there’s a way for a huge national company to get a motor or part or a work-around on this given it was Christmas Day>
“Why didn’t they say ‘you can have three or four steaks or here’s a bottle of wine?’ There were no offers like that.
“They must have known early and didn’t let people know.”
Miller & Carter Hockley Heath staff posted on the venue’s Facebook page at 1.20pm on Christmas Day: “Dear Our Valued Guests,
“There is no easy way to say this but Miller & Carter Hockley Heath has had to close our doors today due to an unexpected electrical issue in our kitchen meaning that our extractor fan system is not working.
“We have had engineers working all morning to try and resolve this issue but unfortunately are unable to do so.
“This means we are unable to open our kitchens today.
“Our management team are currently contacting all bookings to advise them of this closure.
“We apologise for any inconvenience and those affected will be contacted by senior management in the next couple of days. Kind regards, Hockley Heath Management Team.”
Miller & Carter said it was ‘devastated’ by the closure and said the fault was discovered at 9am on Christmas morning.
They tried to fix the issue, initially thought to be an electrical fault. but then had to source a part from Blackburn and had it couriered down, meaning the restaurant could reopen at 6pm.
The firm said customers would be refunded and offered a free meal.
A spokeswoman for Miller & Carter said: “Christmas Day is the most important day of the year for our guests and for us as a restaurant, so we were devastated to discover an extractor fan failure in our kitchen at 9am on Christmas Day when running through our usual opening up safety checks.
“An engineer was on site within one hour, but the problem could not be solved without a replacement part, which was then couriered 90 miles to us, arriving in the afternoon and fitted immediately enabling the restaurant to be operationally ready by 6pm.
“As it became clear we would not be able to serve guests our team personally contacted the 78 parties who were booked to dine with us, who were offered a full refund and invited to book in with us for a complimentary three-course meal and a round of drinks.
“We’re sorry to all guests who we have disappointed, but appreciate most customers were very understanding that we had to put safety first and that our team worked extremely hard to fix the problem.
“We were pleased to welcome all guests on Boxing Day as planned and look forward to welcoming guests across the rest of the celebration season.”
