The Favour

The Favour — safety protocol

Last updated Tuesday 3 November 2026

This is what the club does to keep a Thursday safe, and what it does not do. Running a dinner is not a regulated activity; the club owes guests the ordinary duty of care any business owes the people it invites somewhere, and this protocol is how it meets it.

Part one — for guests

The club number

[placeholder — the club number]. Text it on the night or after. A person reads every message. On a Thursday evening, from 18:00 until midnight, the person on the number is Allan Saud (from January 2027, the admin role when Allan is not available), and they reply within 15 minutes while a table is sitting.

What you can report, and how

Anything that made you uncomfortable: how someone spoke to you or someone else, an advance that was not welcome, someone who was too drunk to be at the table, anyone who tried to sell to the table, anyone who used the evening to pursue someone romantically, anything said or done to you after the evening by someone from the table or from an introduction. Also: anything you saw happen to someone else.

Text the club number, or email [email protected]. Say which Thursday, which table, and what happened. You do not have to give the other person's name if you do not know it; the club knows who sat where.

You can report on the night and we will act on the night if it is needed. You can report a week later. There is no deadline.

What happens to a report

  • A person reads it — Allan Saud, not software — and replies to you.
  • It is written down: the date, the table, what was reported, what we did. Nothing is published.
  • We do not tell the person you reported who reported them.
  • We do not investigate like a court. We take the report as it comes.
  • A guest reported twice doesn't sit again. Two reports from two different people, about two different evenings or the same one, and that guest is refused.
  • For serious conduct — threats, harassment, violence, any sexual advance that was not welcome, drunkenness that spoils the table, selling to the table, or pursuing someone romantically through the evening or the relay — one report is enough, and the club may act at once.

What the club does on the night if asked

  • Text or call you back.
  • Ask the restaurant's manager to speak to the table or to the person, or to move or end the table. The restaurant decides what happens on its own floor; the club asks.
  • Refuse that person any future seat.
  • If anyone is in danger, call 999, and tell you we have.

Introductions

If your favour goes out in the Monday digest and someone replies:

  • You are told one line about them, and you say YES or NO. NO ends it; they are told nothing.
  • If you say yes, each of you is asked what to pass on — an email address, or CALL to pass your number — and you each get one text with first names, the favour and only what the other chose. Nothing else. The club never shares a number; a guest may choose to.
  • The club steps back after that. Either of you can text the club number at any point if something is wrong, and we will read it like any other report.
  • The club does not check that a helper can do what they say. Treat an introduction as you would treat meeting a stranger anyone else had introduced you to: a public place, your own judgement.

Alcohol and age

The restaurant serves under its own licence. It is the restaurant's decision to serve or not to serve anyone, and it can ask for proof of age. The club does not supply alcohol and does not make it part of the evening.

You must be 18 or over to apply, and you confirm that when you do. The club does not check it beyond that; the restaurant may.

What the club does not do — said plainly

  • We do not vet guests. We read a short application — name, number, what you do, where you are connected to, languages, one favour — and place a table from it. That is all we know about anyone at the table, and all we know about anyone who replies to the digest.
  • We do not run background checks, identity checks or criminal-record checks, and we do not verify what anyone says they do.
  • We do not have a host at the table. Six adults sit down with a card each. The restaurant's staff are there to serve dinner, not to supervise it.
  • We do not check what happens after an introduction.
  • We do not promise you a good evening or a sorted favour.

What we do: read every application, place the tables by hand, keep a number a person answers, read every report, and refuse anyone reported twice.