James McNaneyToday at 19:00
The owner of a Belfast barbecue restaurant has said he is being hit with negative reviews from people who have never visited – after an online row about charging for water.
Smoke BBQ in Belfast was criticised online after claims the restaurant charged £1.70 in total for a bottle of tap water and a glass.
Daryl Patterson (37), the owner of Smoke BBQ, said that normal tap water is free and the charge only applies to “water that is filtered, bottled, chilled and served with lemons and ice”.
The reports online began when a customer posted on Facebook saying she did not recommend the business as it was “Charging for tap water £1.20 for a bottle and 50p for a glass!”
In a response on Facebook, Smoke BBQ said: “Indeed we charge there are various reasons for this. As a small business that glass or bottle of water is not free.
“We pay for water as a business, we pay a member of staff to pour the water, we pay for the glass/bottle that it is in.
“We also buy the ice that is provided and the slice of lemon as well. We then serve this to you. Afterwards we clear that glass or bottle and put it through a dishwasher with detergent which we also buy.
“All these little things add up and that is why we have a small charge on our water.
“As a small business it is harder and harder to carry on absorbing costs and we have decided to help maintain our standards and do things in what we perceive the right way that we would add a charge to water.”
Reports claimed restaurant charged £1.70 in total for a bottle of tap water and a glass
The customer responded saying she appreciated the input from the restaurant, in part because it amended what she felt was an inaccurate statement the business made in a Facebook story.
She added: “I understand that it is difficult for local businesses currently which is why I always try to support local.”
“I am also shocked that Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where this practice is legal.”
While it is a common practice in the industry in Northern Ireland, licensed premises like restaurants are under no obligation to provide free drinking water to customers.
In England and Wales, these venues are required by law to provide customers with drinking water on request.
A 2017 report from the campaign group Keep Britain Tidy summarises the situation in NI by saying: “No law regarding the provision of drinking water by licensed premises currently exists.
“Therefore, licensed premises in Northern Ireland are not legally required to provide drinking water to customers.
“Whilst Northern Ireland does not have legislation in place requiring licensed premises to provide free drinking water, it is advisable that premises make it clear that they will charge for water in advance to avoid confusion and any infringement of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.”
Mr Patterson says that the restaurant is being hit with a number of 1-star reviews online by people who have read the report.
“It is unfortunate that we live in a world where people can jump on trying to undo a lot of hard work by a dedicated team in a small independent business when they haven’t even visited the business.”
He said they are a “small business that supports families like my own” and they have been left reviews as a result of the social post and by “those who have never even been to us”.
Costs for Smoke BBQ have been going up recently: the rise in minimum wage has lead to higher-paid staff also receiving increased wages, national insurance contributions are going up and prices of chicken and pork are due to increase.
They have been particularly hit by a recent 30% rise in the cost of beef, which is a staple of their menu.
Mr Patterson said that he could not increase prices by 30% without harming his business.
He also pointed out that businesses pay water rates, which is an extra charge he feels many people are unaware of.
“At Smoke we use local suppliers to supply our meat, we buy local wood, we employ almost 20 local people, we rub everything in house, we smoke everything over wood sourced locally, we smoke our own cheese and do everything authentically supporting and promoting local produce.
“We offer a dining experience based around our guests and ensuring they have an amazing time.”
The Belfast Telegraph’s John Mulgrew reviewed Smoke BBQ in June 2024, praising the quality of the food and the high standard of service, while saying customers got “exceptionally good value”.
by Sonaghan
12 comments
Wouldn’t mind some barbecue now. Just get the ribs out of the fridge and get them on now. Why nat.
A fairly measured response by the business I would say
I also don’t think they have much business sense though, I didn’t know we didn’t have the same laws as England regarding tap water in restaurants.
However you should probably just treat it as a loss leader and make up that money elsewhere
Being charged for tap water will be jarring for customers and you don’t want your business to be defined by that anomaly
It’s a cultural norm that table water is free, any other way if doing it you’ll just appear to be ripping the arse out of your customers
Totally unhinged response. They should have said this was a mistake and that tap water is free. It doesn’t matter if that’s a lie. This big WELL AKSHULLY defense they’ve taken makes them unvisitable by anyone who’s learning about this business for the first time via this story (which is surely most people – except that I think I remember hearing about them a few months ago through a different really negative news story lol)
Started as a small shop in comber 2 years ago and now charging for tap water. The hustle is strong with this bbq
I can’t understand how the owner went on a rant on here justifying all this. Whether you agree or not. How he thought going back and forward arguing with whoever would do him or his business any favours is beyond me. Quite a few business owners in NI are like this. We all know who they are and avoid them. It’s the staff I feel sorry for. Probably lovely and doing their best.
Is this the same clown who said he wouldn’t be serving half pints of Guinness as he’s too busy to pour them. Full pints or nothing.
If your business can’t afford to put a jug of water on the table then it’s not a feasible business. Not having the wherewithal to realize charging people for tap water will have a negative effect on your business compounds the infeasibility of said business. Absolute madness to think the 50p per glass would offset the rising cost of business and the bad name it’ll give the place. Doubling down instead of backtracking when called out is a whole new level of stupidity. The guy was destined to fail.
> the rise in minimum wage has lead to higher-paid staff also receiving increased wages.
“No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue.”
> He said they are a “small business that supports families like my own”
You can’t justify trying to rip off customers just because you have to pay your staff. If the lowest paid staff were making less than the new minimum wage previously, that shows how much these families he was ‘supporting’ were actually valued. And if paying them minimum wage closed the gap too much with higher paid staff, then those staff were undervalued too.
Having to pay your staff isn’t an unforeseeable expense, it’s the cost of doing business. As are standard overheads like water rates, washing dishes etc. There’s a reason most new restaurants/cafes etc close within the first year – the business isn’t as lucrative as most owners imagine.
“He also pointed out that businesses pay water rates, which is an extra charge he feels many people are unaware of”
He’s charged £1.45 per 1,000 litres he uses by NIW.
Plus he gets a free allowance of 200,000 litres per year.
Even if you factor in the fact he’s charged for sewerage that’s £2.51 per 1000 litres. Minus 5% for consumption on site & again he gets 190,000 litres of sewerage adjusted off his bill per year.
So he’s charging £1.70 per litre bottle of water served per table that costs him £0.0039p to get out of the tap. And that’s only after the first 200,000 litres.
Those are some very fucking expensive lemons and dishwasher tabs.
Like flout and their snarky replies to negative reviews or that that insane Covid coffee beans guy. It’s just another example of an NI based small business owner doubling down instead of admitting they’re wrong and can’t handle it. It’s fucking embarrassing. Why you’d want your business being associated with “oh the place that charges you for tap water” is beyond me.
By the same logic you could charge customers per flush of the bogs.
I’ve only ever left positive reviews on google.
If I had a bad experience I don’t leave a review.
Often if someone has left a 1 star review they’ll have left numerous 1 stars for nearly every business they have visited.
Just checked the reviews, had a good laugh. Someone complained the chairs are uncomfortable (saw this a few times on the reviews tbh) and the owner has suggested a doctor or chiropractor, that’s the type of person you’re dealing with here.
‘The customer is always…’
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