This is why you won't be given a receipt at Wetherspoons in Scarborough anymore

Wetherspoons, the chain which owns the pub, is the first large business to stop using receipts after complaints of mess and the waste of paper.

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The pub group announced the news in their latest magazine explaining customers can still request a paper receipt but will not be given them as a matter of course.

In the magazine, a customer wrote in asking Tim Martin, founder and chairman of the chain, where they had gone.

Stephen Simpson, of Keighley, West Yorks, said: "I am wondering why you have stopped issuing receipts for meals at your pubs.

"Twice now, I have ordered meals with side orders as extras; both times the side orders never arrived, leaving me wondering whether I had ordered them in the first place.

"With a receipt I would be able to see exactly what I ordered and show the staff exactly what may be missing."

Tim Martin replied: "We no longer issue receipts as a matter of course; however, if you ask a member of staff, you can get one this way."

British retailers hand out 11.2 billion receipts - 7,300 tonnes - every year at a cost of £32m and 9.9 billion of which go unused. Due to the paper and chemicals used in receipts, most end up in landfill because they cannot be recycled.

Other shops are working to reduce their use of paper including Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Gap, Clarks, New Look, Mothercare and Halfords who have all begun offering e-receipts as an alternative.

Andrew Cregan, Payments Policy Advisor at the British Retail Consortium, welcomed Wetherspoons going receipt-free.

He said: "Many retailers continue to offer customers a paper receipt by default, but there are a growing number that seek to minimise their carbon footprint and cost for their customers through digital receipts or receipts on request, and more customers are opting for digital receipts as a more robust format in case items need to be returned."