A French restaurant group has been accused of aesthetic snobbery after allegedly seating guests according to attractiveness.

Good-looking diners at two of the most famous Paris establishments run by the well-known Costes group are said to be automatically upgraded to the best tables in the house.

The claims have been made by two former employees who also revealed that the same rules apply for staff with female hostesses needing ‘a model’s physique’ to be considered for the job.

Guests at Le Georges, a restaurant at the top of Paris’ Centre Pompidou with stunning panoramic views of the French capital, and Café Marly, near the Louvre, are given tables following a strict appearance policy – the better looking they are, the better the table.

‘The good-looking ones are led to the good places, where they can be easily seen,’ they two former staff members told French weekly Le Canard Enchaîné.

‘As for the non-good-looking ones, it is imperative that they be dispatched to the corners of the room.’

If the staff seats a less aesthetically pleasing guest at a good table, they are told off along the lines of: ‘What are these ugly mugs doing at this table? Everyone can see them when they come in. It’s very bad for our image,’ The Telegraph reports.

The Costes group are run by brothers Thierry and Gilbert Costes and include several other restaurants and cafes in Paris, as well as hotels and cinemas.

The latter has allegedly made a habit of lecturing his staff on the ‘beauty principle’ of the Costes group which is ‘There are good looking people, you put them here; there are bad looking people, you put them there!’

Those attempting to get around the problem by booking over the telephone are told that no promises on tables are made, so as to give hostesses a ‘get out of jail free-card’ should the guests have an undesirable visage.

According to the sources, two ex-hostesses themselves, anyone over 30 – or under 170cm (approximately 5ft7in) - need not apply to work at the restaurant group.

A spokesperson for the Costes group told The Telegraph they would not comment on the allegations.