Water in ‘high demand’, says city cafe owner

Business owners in Dundee are throwing their weight behind the Your Water Your Life campaign encouraging customers to top up from the tap for the sake of the environment.

Business woman Heather Sharp, who co-owns Coffee & Co with husband Kevin Judge, already offers tap water to customers who visit their Reform Street independent coffee shop.

She said: “We offer free water with ice and lemon; it’s on display for the customers to come in and help themselves – it’s literally ‘on tap’. It’s a benefit to us that the customers are happy, it’s a simple as that.”

Husband Kevin – who was in the RAF at Leuchars – is a big fan of Scotland’s tap water.

He said: “Scottish water is high quality – we all know that – and we will do anything we can to encourage drinking it. Besides tasting good, it is also free, but more importantly, drinking tap water means you are not buying plastic bottles and instead recycling refillable bottles to top up with.

“We are here for the benefit of our customers. Some of them do come in with their bottles and ask for tap water, they could be tourists or locals. Other customers might not ask because they think it is bit cheeky, but we are more than happy to do it.”

“Of course, we do still stock bottled water as there is a customer demand for it, but we also offer the same thing – for free!”

Keen to encourage other local cafes, restaurants and bars to do the same, Heather added: “I think from a conservation point of view, and from a business point of view, more cafes should be doing this because anything that benefits the customer will benefit the business.”

Heather Sharp and her husband Kevin run Coffee & Co on Reform Street.