Stop shaming diners who ask for tap water, MPs tell restaurant bosses

RESTAURANTS were accused yesterday of shaming people who ask for tap water with their meals.

Many people feel ‘anxiety’ about asking for tap water for fear they will be accused by a waiter of being ‘too cheap to pay £2.50 for a bottle of water’, MPs said.

The Commons Environmental Audit Committee is looking at ways to cut down on the rising tide of plastic bottles and rubbish piling up in rivers, seas, beaches and in the countryside.

The committee heard restaurants make customers feel ashamed to ask for tap water so they can sell bottles that end up thrown away.

Mary Creagh, who chairs the committee, said: ‘As a condition of your licence you have to offer water and yet every time you ask for it in a restaurant, it’s “Oh no. We don’t serve it.”’

She added water often came from far-flung places, at great environmental cost, when tap water was just as good – and free.

Ex-Health Minister Dan Poulter said: ‘I remember when I was a lot younger being charged for water in pubs, which fortunately isn’t the case any more. The Licensed Premises Act provides access to tap water. But there is still in many people’s mind an anxiety about asking for that.’

MPs spoke about refillable bottles but said people feel an anxiety asking for a refill. Alex Sobel, MP for Leeds North West, asked whether fast food restaurants should offer free water refills. They are not currently obliged to do.

Fiona Llewellyn, of the One Use campaign, which is calling for a reduction in plastic waste, said: ‘One of the barriers people have to carrying these is the lack of places to fill them up. Airports are a nightmare.’ Phone and computer apps now showed shops and restaurants that were happy to refill someone’s bottle, she said.

Other ideas include a deposit scheme like the one planned for Scotland. The Daily Mail is pushing for a similar scheme in England with the Take Back Your Bottles campaign.