Would you expect a pint of water to be free in a pub?

nxbyveromdwjpg · 30-10-2013 12:35AM

loveBBhate wrote: »

I wouldn't pay for a steak dinner in a pub, I'd order it, eat it and leg it before they could charge me.

Pub = public house and I don't get charged for eating dinner in my own house so...

What

Cycling Dumbasses · 30-10-2013 12:38AM

nm wrote: »

What

Couldnt agree more.

Pingi · 30-10-2013 12:39AM

I always get a pint of water as my last drink of the night, maybe another mid session if its a long one and never been charged.

Would have no problem paying €1-2 for a regular plastic bottle of it in the pub but them mini glass bottles of ballgowan/coke can fack right off. The price of them sickens me

ceegee · 30-10-2013 12:41AM

Afaik if you serve food you are obliged to provide water free of charge. (This is based on vague memories of being told this when worling in mcdonalds years ago, not sure if its actually true but was told it by the owner).

From a bars perspective, the amount of money lost by pissing off paying customers would greatly outweigh any money taken in by charging for water. Its like chippers that charge for a sachet of ketchup, it pisses people off to the extent they go elsewhere when if they covered the cost by adding 5c to the price of each bag nobody would complain.

fasttalkerchat · 30-10-2013 12:42AM

I feel awkward when not drinking alcohol and I can't tolerate any more fizzy drinks and they don't charge for blackcurrant/orange.

Cycling Dumbasses · 30-10-2013 12:43AM

Dont be wasting ur time drinking water, stay on the diesel and if ye cant handle it go to the chipper or go home.

languagenerd · 30-10-2013 01:00AM

It all depends whether or not someone's already paying for the services they're using. I really hate it when people just order tap water all night - if you're taking up a seat in a busy bar, availing of their music, electricity, staff and glasses, you should make some sort of contribution. Why should you get that service for free?! Bars have overheads and the staff that bring you your water still have to be paid. I'm a non-drinker, but I'll always buy soft-drinks or even a bottle of water.

If you're alternating water with alcohol, or ask for a pint of water to wash down a meal, or if you've paid in to a gig/club night and need water afterwards, that's fine. But I think it's really stingy just to drink tap water all night and get annoyed/indignant if the bar staff get angry with you over it.

Victor · 30-10-2013 01:01AM

If they insist in charging for water, just bring the matter up at the next licensing court.

nbar12 wrote: »

I'm not familiar if pubs have to pay water charges these days. If they do, fair enough I have no problem paying for a pint of water but if they don't pay water charges then they can forget me paying for a pint of tap water

I imagine they are paying perhaps €1 or less for 1,000 litres.

IM0 · 30-10-2013 01:43AM

u cant just go into pub for free water and stay there, you have to buy other stuff while there and then its rightly free

tfitzgerald · 30-10-2013 01:47AM

Tap water I would not pay for. But bottled water yes.

KungPao · 30-10-2013 01:50AM

As long as I'm paying for other drinks, sure I'd expect a quick glass of tap water to be free.

But if thats all somebody's drinking...thats taking the pis for sure and they should be charged.

IrishProd · 30-10-2013 01:52AM

Just wait until Fine Gael & Labour implement the water meters and charges next year that Fianna Fáil agreed to after they bailed out the banks with taxpayers money.

Then we have to pay for a pint of tap water in all pubs. :mad:

Strumms · 30-10-2013 01:55AM

as regards having a pint or two of water on a night out with your beer or meal then certainly tap water should be free and like an above poster mentioned I was of the ideally they were legally bound too give it too you for free, I've never been or heard of anyone charged for tap water in any establishment.

Also I have never heard of any cheap bastard who would sit in a pub all night drinking tap water... If it was my bar they wouldn't be served simple.

Rabies · 30-10-2013 08:10AM

It's a legal requirement here for all licensed premises to provide drinking water free of charge while open for business.
Its only a problem in places where recreational drug use is high, but those venues usually charge on the door so it balances out.
Don't give free tap water when asked and you could end up in front of the courts. Cops and council do under cover checks here and there

Victor · 30-10-2013 08:13AM

IrishProd wrote: »

Just wait until Fine Gael & Labour implement the water meters and charges next year that Fianna Fáil agreed to after they bailed out the banks with taxpayers money.

Then we have to pay for a pint of tap water in all pubs. :mad:

Most pubs already pay for their water, so nothing will change.

Sunhill · 30-10-2013 08:40AM

Rabies wrote: »

It's a legal requirement here for all licensed premises to provide drinking water free of charge while open for business.
Its only a problem in places where recreational drug use is high, but those venues usually charge on the door so it balances out.
Don't give free tap water when asked and you could end up in front of the courts. Cops and council do under cover checks here and there

If the above is correct - proper order.

Sir Humphrey Appleby · 30-10-2013 08:47AM

Sunhill wrote: »

If the above is correct - proper order.

Yeah, but that poster is New Zealand.

Unclebumble · 30-10-2013 08:47AM

Sunhill wrote: »

If the above is correct - proper order.

There is NO legal requirement.
Urban myth

Edit- didn't realise poster was in NZ!

Teyla Emmagan · 30-10-2013 08:50AM

I presume this a just hypothetical. Has anyone actually been charged for tap water in a pub? I have never heard of such a thing.

suicide_circus · 30-10-2013 08:55AM

I was once asked to pay €2.30 for a miwadi in a Dublin pub. I declined.

Rabies · 30-10-2013 08:58AM

Victor wrote: »

Most pubs already pay for their water, so nothing will change.

We have water charges too.

Average wage is lower than Ireland. Cost of booze is almost the same

Unclebumble wrote: »

There is NO legal requirement.
Urban myth

Edit- didn't realise poster was in NZ!

It does work. People have a drink to keep themselves going a little longer. Win for the bar. It's only a problem when it's a club and water drinkers outnumber alcohol drinkers. Then you charge $10 to enter and it's all good

Rabies · 30-10-2013 08:59AM

suicide_circus wrote: »

I was once asked to pay €2.30 for a miwadi in a Dublin pub. I declined.

Was that for a share in the company?

Irish Stones · 30-10-2013 09:01AM

Hello_MrFox wrote: »

If you order a pint of water, do you expect to have to pay for it, if so how much?

Over here where I live, tap water is free, bottled water can be expensive and it depends on the kind of bar or pub.
During one of my holidays in you country I was feeling sick, had a terrible cold, so I stepped into a pub to ask for a mug of hot water for the medicine to be poured in it.
I expected to pay for it, not for the water itself, but because the lady behind the bar had boiled it, but she didn't want money for it, so I thanked her and left an offer in one of those boxes for the charities.

suicide_circus · 30-10-2013 09:04AM

Rabies wrote: »

Was that for a share in the company?

you'd think so alright. I ordered the miwadi and was just gonna sit at the bar and read the menu and get some lunch. the barman brings the pint of pink water and says "€2.30 pal" I asked him to repeat that which he did. I apologised and said I wasn't prepared to pay that and left.

Rabies · 30-10-2013 09:05AM

Sir Humphrey Appleby wrote: »

Yeah, but that poster is New Zealand.

http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/licencesregulations/liquor/Pages/bearesponsiblehost.aspx

We have what is called Host Responsibility.

Failure to comply with this opens you up to large fines possible suspension or loss of your or the bar's licence for a period of time.

jester77 · 30-10-2013 09:08AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Should be free, I wouldn't pay for tea or coffee in a pub either.

That's ridiculous

If you go into a cafe would you expect the beer to be free?

Gongoozler · 30-10-2013 09:35AM

Carluchios in Dublin are very clever with this. They ask if you'd like some water for the table, and then when you say yes give you a premium bottle of mineral water. Cnuts

Teyla Emmagan · 30-10-2013 10:11AM

I presume this a just hypothetical. Has anyone actually been charged for tap water in a pub? I have never heard of such a thing.

rubadub · 30-10-2013 10:17AM

Rabies wrote: »

It's a legal requirement here for all licensed premises to provide drinking water free of charge while open for business.

Is this the law in new zealand? because its certainly not the law in Ireland, if you think it is just try and find it.

suicide_circus wrote: »

I was once asked to pay €2.30 for a miwadi in a Dublin pub. I declined.

That's a relatively good price. I had broken it down before when someone was charged €2

rubadub wrote: »

There is certainly a tradition of giving out tap water free in many places. The problem now is that instead of people recognising this as unusual and as a great bonus -they have come to expect it, almost as though its their right. So when they see a dash of something added to it they expect this to be the only additional cost.

People need to get that out of their head. Think of what is fundamentally going on. If this drink was simply prediluted in the factory I do not think we would have nearly as many people complaining. -they would not have the "tap water is free" weirdness going on in their head.

Miwadi- DILUTE 1 PART MIWADI WITH 4 PARTS WATER

so say 568ml in the glass to the brim is 113.6ml of miwadi per pint. They come in 1L bottles so 8.8 dashes per bottle. 1L in tesco is €1.99 so say 22cent per dash. So charging you 9 times the price, or a €1.78 surcharge/profit (this is ignoring all the various other costs/overheads, like some oddballs insist on doing).

Comparing this to other things in pubs, relatively, it sounds like an OK deal to me, many bottles of beer can be got for under a euro these days yet they are €4.50-5.50 in most pubs I go to, so roughly 5-6 times the price, and a lot more than the €1.75 charge on this. A pint of coke in my local costs €8.40.

Someone said 3.50 earlier on for the pint of water. That's also relatively a pretty good price for some places considering what they charge extra on that same glass if it was full of another liquid.

Rabies · 30-10-2013 10:20AM

rubadub wrote: »

Is this the law in new zealand? because its certainly not the law in Ireland, if you think it is just try and find it.

Yup, good little law too, and I work in the bar trade here.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733286

Should be the same in Ireland too

Would you expect a pint of water to be free in a pub?

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