REVEALED: St Tropez restaurants compile secret lists of tourists who don’t leave huge tips and REFUSE them a table when they try to book – as even the local mayor slams them for ‘racketeering’

Ever since director Roger Vadim filmed Brigitte Bardot on the beach in the fishing village in his 1956 film And God Created Woman, she has been a magnet for high society.

But now thousands of British tourists who visit St Tropez each summer hoping to emulate the A-listers by dining at the quay’s fancy restaurants are finding that it’s no longer easy to get a table.

Staff at some of the fancier bistros are compiling sneaky databases, listing which diners spend the most and how much they tip. If the numbers are not considered high enough, tourists will be locked out the next time they try to make a reservation.

Customers are also ‘encouraged’ to leave large American-style ‘extra tips’, even though French restaurants already automatically add a 15 per cent service charge to each meal.

The move has been branded “extortion” and “extortion” by St Tropez Mayor Sylvie Sire, 62, who last night called for strong measures.

The move has been branded “extortion” and “extortion” by St Tropez Mayor Sylvie Sire, 62, who last night called for strong measures.

She said: ‘These illegal practices must stop immediately. These forced tips are similar to organized crime. We are very far from the essence of a tip, which represents customer satisfaction.

‘This means that a tip is paid at the discretion of the consumer, when it is not part of the bill, because in France the service is included.

“These practices are detestable for visitors but also for the people of St Tropez.”

Main courses at one of the Old Port’s cheapest restaurants last week included a saddle of lamb with borlotti beans for £55.

Lobster was £80 and desserts were £22. A cheese plate was £30, while wines included a bottle of Château Petrus Pomerol for £7,700.

Industry sources across the Riviera confirmed that the tipping scam is also becoming widespread in several high-end restaurants from Cannes to Nice.

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz at Club 55 Beach in Saint-Tropez

Staff at some of the fancier bistros are compiling sneaky databases, listing which diners spend the most and how much they tip.

An upmarket St Tropez restaurateur, who asked not to be named, said: “We love the Brits and they spend a lot of money here, but those without unlimited funds should be warned.”

One source said: ‘It all comes down to the economics of nightclubs: if you’re known for buying big bottles of champagne, you get the best table; if you drink half a beer all night, they don’t want you back.

Ms Sire, who was born in St Tropez and has been mayor for almost three years, called the practice “extortion, pure and simple”.

She said the restaurants selected customers by creating a database of information that included expenses, which was “an illegal use of data because there is no consent.”

With the influx of the super-rich sending rents and property prices soaring, he added: “We’ve already been kicked out of our homes and soon we won’t be able to eat out anymore because we’ll be kicked out of restaurants.”

“St Tropez gets more expensive every year and if you can’t afford to compete with the high rollers you could end up humiliated.”

Var-Matin, the local newspaper covering St Tropez, said those who called to make a restaurant reservation were immediately checked against the stored information.

If their names have a record of low spend and tips attached, they are told the restaurant is full and they should try somewhere else.

The newspaper also reported that an angry waiter returned a €500 (£430) tip to a large group of diners, saying he expected “a minimum of 20 per cent over the bill”.

Ms Bardot, 88, moved to St Tropez in 1958 and still lives there.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former boxing champion Floyd Mayweather are among the celebrities who have vacationed there in recent days, as well as Princess Beatrice and former One Direction singer Liam Payne.