Free drinking water - what are your rights?

[landsurfer]

Spiders Web cafe, Cosford, charges 50p for a glass of water whatever you buy "we're on a meter you know".
Huh!

And you sit in their Cafe, use their glass, absorb their heating, enjoy the shelter they provide from the wind and rain, use their toilets .... 50p ..Bargain !!

[Samuel D]

absorb their heating

And you call yourself an engineer, mister?

[landsurfer]

I know, but the process of latent heat transfer is boring to most on here ...
Or not ......

[Samuel D]

Well this thread has latent capacity to generate heat.

I still think that charging for water is outside of normal human decency. It’s essentially offensive to me. Was any business ever set upon by freeloaders with unreasonable demands for water? Surely this is just not a problem.

[Psamathe]

Spiders Web cafe, Cosford, charges 50p for a glass of water whatever you buy "we're on a meter you know".
Huh!

Are they a licensed premises ? The law/regs referenced re free water applies to licensed premises (i.. a part of the license).

Ian

[nirakaro]

I still think that charging for water is outside of normal human decency. It’s essentially offensive to me. Was any business ever set upon by freeloaders with unreasonable demands for water? Surely this is just not a problem.

A lass complained on TripAdvisor at being charged £2 for a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon. This was part of the proprietor's response:

"The cost of overheads for the business, i.e rent, business rates, electricity costs, bank charges, etc works out at £27.50 per hour of trading. I pay my colleagues a decent living wage and after taking into account holiday pay, national insurance and non-productive time prior to opening and after closing, the waiter who served you costs me £12.50 per hour. Therefore, together the cost is £40 per hour or 67p per minute, meaning that the cost of providing you with 2-3 minutes of service was £1.34 - £2.00."

Food for thought.

[Bmblbzzz]

And that's one of the reasons why the mark up on a cup of tea or coffee is several hundred percent of ingredient costs but on a full meal it's far less.

[[XAP]Bob]

You also have to consider opportunity cost.

Was the establishment busy at the time - or were the staff spending a proportion of their time idle because there weren't that many customers in at that time.

If they were busy with paying customers then there is some potential opportunity cost to consider (though that would require a customer to *leave* ot not enter). If the staff were effectively idle then there is actually no cost incurred (the overhead is there whether or not you ask for the water).

[mercalia]

And that's one of the reasons why the mark up on a cup of tea or coffee is several hundred percent of ingredient costs but on a full meal it's far less.

except at Wang Kei in London China town where you get a free pot of green tea

[john4703]

My local Weatherspoons has a tap at the end of the bar where you can get as much free water as you want.

[pete75]

I still think that charging for water is outside of normal human decency. It’s essentially offensive to me. Was any business ever set upon by freeloaders with unreasonable demands for water? Surely this is just not a problem.

A lass complained on TripAdvisor at being charged £2 for a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon. This was part of the proprietor's response:

"The cost of overheads for the business, i.e rent, business rates, electricity costs, bank charges, etc works out at £27.50 per hour of trading. I pay my colleagues a decent living wage and after taking into account holiday pay, national insurance and non-productive time prior to opening and after closing, the waiter who served you costs me £12.50 per hour. Therefore, together the cost is £40 per hour or 67p per minute, meaning that the cost of providing you with 2-3 minutes of service was £1.34 - £2.00."

Food for thought.

If that waiter is costing him £12.50 an hour taking into account employers NI, auto enrolment pension costs, holiday pay and other salary on costs then he most certainly doesn't " pay my colleagues a decent living wage".

If service for 2 -3 minutes costs that much how to some pubs manage to charge under two quid for a pint?

[Bmblbzzz]

You also have to consider opportunity cost.

Was the establishment busy at the time - or were the staff spending a proportion of their time idle because there weren't that many customers in at that time.

If they were busy with paying customers then there is some potential opportunity cost to consider (though that would require a customer to *leave* ot not enter). If the staff were effectively idle then there is actually no cost incurred (the overhead is there whether or not you ask for the water).

AIUI opportunity cost would require a customer to not order something due to the staff being busy rather than actually leave. Either way, if the staff are idle at that moment, there isn't an opportunity cost.

[Bmblbzzz]

I still think that charging for water is outside of normal human decency. It’s essentially offensive to me. Was any business ever set upon by freeloaders with unreasonable demands for water? Surely this is just not a problem.

A lass complained on TripAdvisor at being charged £2 for a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon. This was part of the proprietor's response:

"The cost of overheads for the business, i.e rent, business rates, electricity costs, bank charges, etc works out at £27.50 per hour of trading. I pay my colleagues a decent living wage and after taking into account holiday pay, national insurance and non-productive time prior to opening and after closing, the waiter who served you costs me £12.50 per hour. Therefore, together the cost is £40 per hour or 67p per minute, meaning that the cost of providing you with 2-3 minutes of service was £1.34 - £2.00."

Food for thought.

If that waiter is costing him £12.50 an hour taking into account employers NI, auto enrolment pension costs, holiday pay and other salary on costs then he most certainly doesn't " pay my colleagues a decent living wage".

If service for 2 -3 minutes costs that much how to some pubs manage to charge under two quid for a pint?

Yeah, I thought the same about the "decent living wage". As for the £2 pint though, clearly different pubs have different overheads (and wages and beer costs) and also not everything has to be sold at a profit; might be a loss leader.

[pete75]

As for the £2 pint though, clearly different pubs have different overheads (and wages and beer costs) and also not everything has to be sold at a profit; might be a loss leader.

I was thinking of Sam Smith's pubs where almost all the draught beer is under two quid.

[gxaustin]

And you sit in their Cafe, use their glass, absorb their heating, enjoy the shelter they provide from the wind and rain, use their toilets .... 50p ..Bargain !!

Spider's promotes itself as cyclist friendly, so one might expect a glass of water with food. However, you make a fair point regarding fringe benefits... But, I buy coffee, beans on toast and a piece of cake. Maybe a full English. I wouldn't dream of asking for free water and just sitting there. Oh, and they charge for filling your own bottles too; though personally I take enough liquid for consumption on the bike.

And no it isn't a pub, it's a cafe (clue's in the description).
Graham