How much the UK restaurant scene will be affected by the Government's new licensing regime remains a mystery, owing to a lack of official figures.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had no data on how many venues missed the 6 August cut-off for licence applications.
It estimates there are about 100,000 eateries in the country, but it is not known how many have licences now, or how many with licences have applied for variations to their hours.
Martin Couchman, deputy chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said it was probably too early to gauge how the licensing changes would affect restaurants.
"Pubs are generally part of big estates, hotels are often part of a group but most restaurants are independent, so there is no collective way of finding out what's going on," he said.
Out of the estimated 40,000 hospitality businesses that did not meet the licensing deadline, Couchman predicted a significant number would be restaurants.
"There are those who just didn't know about the changes; those who thought their existing licence would still be valid; those from the ethnic sector who had problems with language; and those who found the process took longer than the six months allocated," Couchman said.
But restaurant applications are unlikely to meet the same opposition. Audrey Lewis, cabinet member for licensing at Westminster City Council, said: "Marylebone high street is full of restaurants and lined with residential property but we get very few complaints. People going to restaurants simply don't get drunk in the manner those at pubs do."