The second type, and probably the most commonly used type of candle is the humble tea light. These miniature candles appear, on first impressions to be the cheapest and simplest option, but this may not be the case!

You must again be sure you buy a quality item. Many tea lights say they burn for four hours when they quite often don’t last. And even if they did, four hours is barely enough for an evening service, particularly in winter.

Again, test the manufacturer’s claims before you buy a large amount. And if three to four hours burning time is not enough to get you through an evening, don’t buy them!

The cheapest tea lights available are actually from supermarkets or IKEA! However, you now have to weigh up the cost of someone actually going to get them. A tea light that only costs two pence may cost £5 to collect. See if your catering wholesaler will deliver. This will save you money in the long run.

A t-light can look rather cheap as well which doesn’t send out the right message to your customers. If you put tea lights on your tables, your valuable customers, the ones that really count (that’s all of them by the way), the sole source of your success and your livelihood, will know that you think they’re worth about four pence. Put something rather better than that in front of them and they will feel a whole lot more valued.

They can be a lot more expensive than they seem, because you end up throwing so many away, half used, or worse still, half spilled over your table, or linen or caking up the inside of your candle holder.

This is one of the biggest banes of any restaurateur’s life, and even worse for their staff. I hear it over and over again. People that use them regularly quite simply say “I hate tea lights! Surely there must be an alternative!”

And of course, there is. The oil candle.