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Water on tap at every restaurant
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent25 Feb 2008
- Join the campaign: sign up here
- See tap-friendly restaurants here
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- We're making bottled water a museum piece
- Now, bottled water boss backs our tap campaign
- MPs back tap water and vow to cut bottles in Parliament
- Top politicians back Standard fight for restaurant tap water
- The tide turns as big chains join our tap water campaign
- Michelin-starred chefs join call for tap water at tables
- 'My customers say bottle ban is best thing I've ever done'
- Comment: Water on tap
The Evening Standard has launched a campaign to make London's tap water freely available in restaurants and bars.
Water On Tap aims to make asking for and consuming tap water socially acceptable in every eating and drinking venue.
Companies who join the campaign will sign a pledge to offer and serve free tap water to customers without prejudice.
It will end the practice of offering "still or sparkling" bottled water without mentioning that water is available on tap. Diners and drinkers often feel stigmatised by asking for tap water.
The campaign aims to slash the negative impact on the environment of bottled water. Britons drink three billion bottles every year, and half a billion are flown or shipped from overseas.
Transporting bottled water in Britain is estimated to produce 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the annual energy use of 6,000 homes.
Thames Water calculates that one litre of liquid from its taps accounts for 0.3 grammes of CO2, and costs about 0.097p a litre. A 750ml bottle of mineral water can have a carbon footprint 300 times higher, depending on where the liquid was shipped from.
In a blind tasting organised by Decanter magazine, London tap water topped the table, even when competing with an expensive bottled mineral version, and several sommeliers ranked it as their favourite.
Recent research by the National Consumer Council also found that 70 per cent of the public think mineral water in restaurants is too expensive.
It found nine out of 10 British restaurants pushed diners to buy expensive bottled water and failed to offer them the liquid free on tap. Some charged up to £3.50 for a bottle they would have bought for 35p.
The Standard campaign is backed by Thames Water, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, and a host of London's finest chefs and restaurants, including Aldo Zilli. Today he is banning bottled water across his chain of restaurants.
Mr Livingstone said: "I am pleased to support this campaign. Water out of the tap tastes just the same as when it is expensively bottled."
Later this year, the Mayor and Thames Water will launch a competition to design a carafe which will be used in venues to serve customers tap water.
David Owens, chief executive of Thames Water, said: "London has probably the best drinking water in the world. We look forward to seeing the carafe grace the tables of all the businesses signing up to the Evening Standard's pledge."
Dame Yve Buckland, chairwoman of the Consumer Council for Water, said: "We welcome this initiative. Cafés, bars and restaurants who are giving their customers the option to drink tap water ought to be congratulated."
Jeremy King, proprietor of The Wolseley in Piccadilly and St Alban in Regent Street, said: "This is very important. "People ordering tap water, should not be made to feel like second-class citizens."
Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: "Shipping water around in bottles, sometimes over thousands of miles, is mad from an environmental point of view."
* If you want to support our campaign, click on the image below. Your restaurant will be added to an online database of premises backing Water on Tap.
Reader views (33)
Restaurateurs! Take it a step further and charge your customers an optional donation of 15p for a glass of water then pass all the 15p's to Wateraid (you would be amazed how fast they build up). Our customers are very willing to make this donation and as an added bonus it will be good for you on the good will stakes- local press etc. It has worked brilliantly in Crouch End at Banner's Restaurant.
- Juliette Banner, Banner's Restaurant, Crouch End, London, 30/06/2010 22:56
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I have asked for tap water at Gatwick, they refused but opened a bottle of mineral water for me and gave me a glass of water for free (it did take a full ten minutes of staff time) there are no cold taps in most airport toilets to stop you from filling up an empty plastic bottle. Tonight i made a fuss in a restaurant which served hot spicy food and then refused tap water, (we had already paid £15 for drinks on top of the food) eventually I filled my now empty glass from the toilet tap. Dehydration is a major health risk when travelling, especially flying, but also on busses and trains too. My own aunt died of DVT after a five hour trip, and she is not the only one. Water should be a right in England as it is in Scottish restaurants.
- Petroc Ap Seisyllt Lewisham, London England, 09/04/2010 01:24
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This evening we went to a chinese restaurant in chingford and was refused tap water for my 8 year old.
We then ordered still bottled water and got a 175mlbottle for £2.00!!. I work in a restaurant and we happily give out jugs of water.
- Lisa, Buckhurst Hill Essex, 12/07/2009 22:15
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On Monday 6th April, my son visited a KFC on Camden High Street, he ate and requested a cup of tap water, he was refused on the grounds of health and safety, a member of staff said that someone had been poisoned previously at KFC so they don’t serve tap water. I have written a letter to their customer services department to complain direct, I am waiting for their response.
Yesterday I was on the way to a meeting and passed another KFC near Clapham Junction, London. I decided to test his story, I too was refused water on the grounds of health and safety. I asked further and was told that they are told to do this by the franchise as a directive to get customers to buy water. The manager agreed that there could be no health and safety issues, knowing that there is nothing wrong with London tap water.
KFC press office deny this practice and say that they will always serve tap water if requested. This is not the case as the franchise tells managers to do otherwise. KFC should stop acting in such a duplicitous fashion.
Food purveyors have to have a potable water supply, but they do not have to pass on tap water to their customers, KFC are dressing up a reluctance to supply tap water, with fake health and safety issues, in order that they can profit further from bottled water sales.
Restaurants are not the issue, the issue is a lack of legislation, all purveyors of food should be forced, as in Scotland to supply tap water to their customers. So go and lobby your local MP
- Steve Ackhurst, London, UK, 08/04/2009 16:39
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I went to the Boulevard Brasserie on Wellington Street, Covent Garden at lunchtime. Despite having spent over £15 on lunch they refused point blank to serve me a glass of tap water. They simply said it was company poicy and pointed me in the direction of the bottled water. I have been going to that cafe for over 3 years. Such an approach is a surefire way to lose customers.
- David, London, London, 11/11/2008 13:23
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Went to Red Dragon Restaurant on Whitechapel Road (not worth it), requested tap water, refused by waitress, asked waiter who refused as, his words, 'it costs them money'. Spoke to the manager who refused and became confrontational and threatening, to the point he and his waiters chased me out to continue arguing.
I should add that we only requested tap water after we had bought drinks and wanted it for our friend who vomited after he ate the food. You have been warned.
- Giash Ahmed, Islington, London, UK, 08/11/2008 00:38
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I will name and shame! The Aroma chinese restaurant near the Freeport Braintree refused to serve us tap water. The manager even got involved and said we do not serve tap water here it's stated on our menu. It's still or sparkling. They said they weren't allowed to. What? We went around to the restaurants next to them and they all did and they too couldn't understand why this restaurant would not serve tap water. It sounds like we might start to have a problem with certain types of restaurants trying to get more money out of their customer.
- Sarah, Braintree, UK, 06/07/2008 11:29
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I always ask for tap water in London restaurants and certainly do not feel like a second class citizen. If I do so what?
- Sohrab Lawyer, mumbai india, 09/06/2008 23:37
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I have just been charged 60p per glass of tap water in a Chinese restaurant in Ilford. They are calling it a service charge for bringing the glasses and washing them!
- Shebs, Ilford, United Kingdom, 17/05/2008 13:53
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I always answer the "still or sparkling" question with "tap", and it's never a problem. If any waiter ever refuses, I'll insist. I always thought bottled water was a rip off anyway, and now that I'm aware of the environmental impact I won't take no for an answer (in a nice way so they don't spit in my food).
- Lisa, london, 13/05/2008 16:33
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I always ask for tap water in restaurants and I've never been refused. Then again, I do live in Yorkshire. Perhaps Londoners just need to get a back bone?
- Oliver Clark, Leeds, UK, 13/05/2008 12:16
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You won't find any difficulty getting tap water at New York restaurants, and you certainly won't find New Yorkers squeamish about asking for it, and I pity the waiter who dares say they don't offer it! Ice with it? No problems.
- Mark Hirsh, New Rochelle NY USA, 11/05/2008 23:27
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This week a friend was in London with her two children, and went to the Ristorante Italiano in Whitehall, London. She ordered sprite for the children, and asked for tap water for herself. She was refused, and told she could only have bottled water - still or sparkling. She persisted and the waiter told her he wasn't allowed to give customers tap water. A poor show on two counts - water conversation and courtesy and helpfulness to visitors.
- R King, London, 22/04/2008 10:43
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Re your article on 12th March, the South Bank Centre may well have jugs of water available in its bars (I can't think of an Arts Council-supported arts venue that I attend which doesn't), but its "ground floor" cafe certainly doesn't. I was there last weekend, asked for water and was specifically told they didn't supply it, only bottled, so had to carry my food right round to the bar to get some. Anyway, I always understood that restaurants were legally obliged to provide tap water if requested?
- Alison, London, 16/03/2008 14:28
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Something should be done about the airports, where it's impossible to find tap water and, after the new regulations, one is forced to buy plastic or die of thirst!
- E. Clarke, london, 07/03/2008 07:26
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The "blind taste" in which tap water beat mineral water must have been not just a blind test but anosmic too. The chlorine in tap water in England is revolting. At least, if you're going to promote tap water, promote filtered tap water, such as they offer free of charge in Strada restaurants.
- Xan, Berlin, 06/03/2008 22:38
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I don`t understand what the fuss is about, I've worked in restaurants for the last 38 years and tap water has being available to the customers, in the restaurant I now run, we serve jugs and jugs of tap water willingly,is part of good service as far as I understand. In fact one of the conditions to acquire a drinks license is that you must serve free drinking water to your customers with their meal.
Nevertheless, a restaurant is a business and has to make a profit, the water suppliers charge us good money every year
We don`t get it for free, and I don`t seem to see any mention of that.
It also seems to me that the big boys who maybe were charging colossal prices for bottle water and now very willing to serve tap water have now jumped on the bandwagon to promote themselves as saints.
However! I am all for serving tap water to customers whenever they ask for it,and it should be served in a pleasant manner as if it was bottle water.
- Ja Fernandez Deiros, london england, 29/02/2008 00:03
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Eating out with my son and daughter-in-law we paid £6 for two bottles of water!
- A..M.Lewis, Pinner. U.K., 28/02/2008 08:09
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Restaurants don't like giving out tap water because profits are taken away from their sale of bottled water.
Say if 1 litre of bottled water costs 50p and they sell for 1.50p making 1.00p gross profit. After storage space (ie rent), delivery (ie labour) and paper work (ie labour) their net profit is maybe 50p. So just let them charge us 50p for 1 litre of tap water and let them make a net profit of 50p. Don't forget we have to be served (ie labour) and glasses have be washed (ie labour). So instead of 1.50p we pay 50p. The difference (1.00p) into our piggy bank.
This way we have an all win situation - us, the restaurant and the environment. No losers.
- Ka Chow, Maida Vale, London, 27/02/2008 20:32
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We have always provided tap water if the customer asks for it. Many times people come here to eat and just have tap water - it's no big deal.
If any of our customers feel they are not given the free choice, then I want to know and I will sort it out.
- Kevin, London, 27/02/2008 04:33
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It has taken me a while to break my bottled water habit. It was the guilt of putting out my recycling bin every week, over flowing with plastic Volvic bottles, which finally made me realise I had to quit. I used to think I could taste the difference, but now I no longer even think about it. My next goal is to consistently muster up the courage to ask for tap water in restaurants. I have always felt that it makes me look like I am trying to be cheap, when in fact I am trying to be eco conscious. I grateful for the Evening Standard campaign as I am sure it will raise awareness and bring about change.
- Kelly, Wimbledon, 26/02/2008 22:28
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The whole of our family (one in London and one on Brighton and us in Norfolk) have insisted on tap water for years now, so it is good to see some solid support - keep up the good work. We recently stayed with our daughter in Pimlico and ate in a restaurant in Greenwich and found the tap water of excellent quality. We then went on to Brighton with a similar experience - enough said!
- Alan Clare, King's Lynn, England, 26/02/2008 12:17
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I’m greatly encouraged by the Water on Tap campaign and applaud restaurants such The Wolseley and Zilli Fish which are helping Londoners to turn back to their taps to help the environment.
I believe the greatest challenge we face is to meet the expectation for restaurant drinking water. For the last two decades multi-million pound marketing campaigns have wrongly persuaded us that bottled water is a premium product, associated with purity, health and well being. As a result, we are a nation obsessed with “premiumisation”, of products. It’s now up to restaurants to fulfil these expectations for premium drinking water.
One way restaurants like Water House have achieved this is by taking tap water and filtering and dispensing chilled still, or sparkling water on-site. Another crucial consumer expectation is for water to be presented in quality, stylish, glass bottles.
Thames Water provides 98.9% compliancy with stringent targets around water purity. It’s now up to restaurants to go the last mile in “polishing” tap water so that it’s welcomed across London, not only by conscientious diners, but by the general public at large.
- Matthew Cooper, Greencare, UK, 26/02/2008 11:39
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I have always loved the American system, where they serve you tap water straight away when you enter a restaurant. Why can we not have the same in the UK.
- Rita Shah, London England, 26/02/2008 08:59
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I have been drinking tap water for years and I think that it is very good quality. Why be ripped off for bottled water.
- Giovanni Viventi, London England, 26/02/2008 08:44
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I always ask for 'tap water', 'Chateau Thames' etc, I refuse to be embarrassed into buying bottled water.
- Richard Morse, London; England, 25/02/2008 22:05
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I tend to eat out quite a bit and find that some restaurants, mostly Asian, charge 20-50p for a glass of tap water. This is true in the West End, Croydon, Clapham, etc. If this 'tap water' campaign is to be successful, then the councils must pass a law to ban the charges. At home, I always drink tap water. I just keep a few bottles of water just in the case of someone tampering with the sources. As Laura Craik said today, water on the table is standard in the US of A. I am an American that lives here but lived in the Philadelphia suburbs but worked in New York and Washington. Water abounds... very little in the bottles. Also, I do not return to a restaurant that charges for the tap water.
- Harry Hamburg, Putney, UK, 25/02/2008 19:37
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Whenever I eat out with friends, we always ask for a jug of tap water, along with wine or spirits. Usually, there is no problem; just sometimes a waiter/waitress can seem a bit snooty, but we just ignore that!
- Christine Hill, Bromley, UK, 25/02/2008 18:03
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We think this is a great campaign and very happy to give our support. We always offer customers the choice!
- Harrison'S, Balham SW12, 25/02/2008 17:33
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I'm a water drinker. Up until recently I've had to skulk off down to the recycle lab with my huge carbon footprint and a red face. Now I drink just as much water from the tap no surplus consumption of glass and plastic. So, I can imagine the effect this will have of the carbon footprint of Restaurants. Great!
- Maria, London, 25/02/2008 15:26
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We would like to support your campaign and always offer tap water to our customers. We have built a tap into our waiters station
- Sam'S, Chiswick, London, 25/02/2008 14:37
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I've supported this cause for many years and have never had any problems with any waiter in a London restaurant when with a twinkle in my eye I've asked for "a glass of Chateau Thames, on the rocks".
- Anni, SW London, 25/02/2008 14:36
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Before I discount bottled water, I would like to know the truth about one urban myth about tap water: does it or doesn't it contain hormones such as oestrogen secreted from humans down the loo, that slip through the purification process?
- V Kyme, London UK, 25/02/2008 13:21
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