Tap water in restaurants

skintmostofthetime

HI. I always understood that you were entitled to have a glass/jug of tapwater free in restaurants if you were eating. Is this no longer true - can they refuse and make you pay £3.00 for a bottle of posh water? I am happy to drink the tapwater in the U.K. so don't really see why I should drink the other stuff if I don't want to.

loobs40

I didn't think it was an entitlement. Someone has to pay for the jug and the glasses you are using.

Besides the restaurant is there to make money and I am guessing it is drinks that have the highest mark up

chickchick82

I get very angry when your spending over £30 a head and they cant give u a jug of water!!!! This happened in the roc cottage in ickenham,i wont go back! theyve lost a very good customer :mad:

Lurkio

There was a thing on the radio the other day about this. According to the piece, if you ask for tap water in a restaurant they HAVE to provide it by law

rattla

Lurkio wrote: »

There was a thing on the radio the other day about this. According to the piece, if you ask for tap water in a restaurant they HAVE to provide it by law

I've seen plenty of things then seem to disagree with that. Take this article from the guardian talking to a campaigns lawyer from 'Which?' magazine :
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ellie_levenson/2006/11/water_water_everywhere.html

Basically only Licensed Clubs have to legally provide water for free. Not saying that restaurants don't have to provide it, but they could quite rightly charge you whatever they wanted for it.

I don't really see why they shouldn't charge you for tap water, you can't use the argument that it doesn't cost them anything because :

a. They do still technically have to pay for water by virtue of their rates (probably on a meter too) and drainage etc. Granted not a big cost, but still a cost.
b. You wouldn't stand there arguing that they charged you £1 for a cup of tea on the basis that the milk, sugar and tea bag cost you a lot less than £1 !!

TomsMom

It's not just the cost of the water, although I think restaurants (catering establishments in general?) have to be metered.

They are providing a service which includes the jugs and glasses, paying someone to wash up, you are using their premises (rent, rates, heating to pay), possibly listening to their music (two licences to pay - PPL and PRS), etc.

However, if the customer is purchasing other drinks too then I don't see the need to charge for water. If they are just coming in for the cheapest meal on the menu and only water to drink then I think it's fair to ask for a reasonably small charge.

mouseymousey99

we had a case here recently in the local paper about a darts team complaining the pub they went to play in wouldn't serve them free tap water. How daft is that? I think if you have ordered a meal ok ask for a jug of water with your meal, but expecting people to give you something free when that's how they make their living is really rude.

Lizalu

When I worked in a bar my boss always told me that they have to allow you access to running water free of charge.
It's the cost of a glass and the service that they are allowed to charge for. The policy was that if you were ordering it without another drink / a meal, there's be a 20p charge, but we always served it free.
I haven't been refused or charged for a glass of tap water for a long time.

PBA

It's not a legal requirement for it to be served, but refusing to give a customer a jug of tap water (which can't cost more than 5-10p to provide) is stupid business sense. At the very least the customer is going to tip less at the end of the meal (there's that 10p lost instantly!) and you stand to lose a potentially loyal customer.

Crabman

There's an interesting thread from a couple of weeks ago regarding this very issue:

Tap water experiences

Fen1

By law, they are entitled to a Service Charge. However, it would certainly annoy me, so no tip, and I'd really complain about them to evryone I'd meet. On the Continent and the States you are often automatically given a jug of tap water, or you can ask for it and no-one bats an eyelid.

It also annoys me in pubs ( though I can understand the charge there) as you cannot drink if you are the designated driver, and non-alcholic drinks are often more expensive than the booze! No wonder people drink and drive when the beer's cheaper than cola.