It’s in French, sorry

https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2023/03/03/en-belgique-le-gouvernement-wallon-renonce-a-imposer-la-carafe-d-eau-gratuite-au-restaurant_6164031_3234.html

In France, you have a tap water for free in every restaurants and last time I was in Paris, prices were cheaper than in the middle of nowhere in Belgium

45 comments

  1. Indeed. I was at a restaurant in Antwerp last weekend where they dared to charge 9,5€ for 1L of water. And sadly no free tap water was possible there. WTF!

  2. The restaurant industry, the industry that literally has the highest failure rate for a small business out of any industry, is clearly rolling in money with all the wealth they’re accumulating by not offering free tap water. All of those restaurant owners who work ‘only’ 60 hours a week busting their ass are clearly just secret multi millionaires off of selling bottled water.

    Free market says you’re perfectly within your right to go to a restaurant that does offer free tap water. I personally realize that even tap water requires staff to bring it to my table and thus should cost something. It doesn’t appear for free on my table.

  4. The only place i know of that does this is the Irish pub in Leuven. It’s great because when you go you can easily alternate.

  5. I agree, it’s also bad that the cheapest option for drinks is almost always beer. It pushes people towards alcohol when they might otherwise not have any.

    I understand that drinks, including water, have a high profit margin and are important for restaurants to keep afloat/make money. The way around this is just to make the food more expensive to compensate.

    The problem is if only 1 restaurant does this, then its seen as too expensive comapred to competitors, and would lose custom.

    The only solution is top-down legislation from government enforcing free tap water. As you mention such legislation has been effective and popular in France, and the same is true for the UK.

  7. Glad gatekeepers on free water are being downvoted. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I remember a VOKA representative (I have nothing against VOKA, they are valuable for doing business) talking that Belgian people value high quality water thus we can’t serve tap water. What a load of bullshit.

  8. I’m just thirsty. I just hate eating out because i never have enough to drink. If I buy a drink can i please just have some water too? I can’t make it through a full restaurant meal with one 33cl beer or bmgod forbid 1 20cl spa. And I’m paying 6-10 euros for the privilege of hydrading myself. I’ll buy the exact same amount of beverage whether water is free or not, i just have a measurble worse experience.

  9. There is no reason it should be free. It requires time and effort so paying for it is reasonable. But it should be cheap. But recently many restaurants moved away from expensive mineral water to excessively expensive tap water in a personalized bottle.

    A good way I’ve seen is to charge for bringing you the carafe and glasses, but they will refill the carafe for free as much as you want.

  11. I was in a fancy brussels restaurant recently ( Francine) and they had a water forfeit. For 5 euros you could have all the water you wanted ( sparkling & still) for the whole evening. For me it seemed like a good deal.

  12. While I do agree that some restaurants charge terrible prices for water there is no such thing as free water. The waiter who writes down “water” does not work for free, the water itself isn’t free (cheap? Yes. Free? No), the waiter who brings you your water does not work for free, the glass in which it was poured wasn’t free, the waiter who cleans your table does not work for free, the washingmachine that washes your glass does not run on free energy.

    There is also no “free tap water” in France. Its just calculated into other prices.

  15. We hebben ook nog die fucked up WC-madam cultuur, zelfs in de Kinepolis waar ik aan meer dan €20 lag voor mijn ticket en zo’n brilleke en dan nog een paar euro voor de parking, mocht ik nog steeds wat centen ophoesten om eens te gaan pissen. Zou moeten verboden zijn daar dit in de service moet zitten

  16. I’m all for free tap water, but I don’t believe this should be regulated by the government. It’s not appropriate for a government to regulate on such a level. Current system is not harmful nor will regulation be more beneficial for society.
    Do I want it: yes. Do I want to force them by making it a law? No, that’s ridiculous.

  18. Water is a big business in this country. If they would do that, nobody would take their bottle of mineral water at 5€ anymore.

    Also, we may have a different restaurant culture than our neighbours.

  19. Water accessibility in Belgium is so bad. When you visit a city, there are no fountains anywhere. Summers are getting hotter and hotter every year. Last summer we had a full week with over 32°C every day. Yet there are no fountains at all in most cities (or at least in wallonia and Brussels, I don’t know the situation in Flanders). If you’re a tourist and you’re thirsty, you either pay to go to one of the rare public toilet and fill your bottle there, or you go into a bar and pay even more to get your ridiculously expensive glass of Chaudfontaine. Welcome in Belgium !

  20. > cheaper than in the middle of nowhere in Belgium

    Forgive me for being so curious, but: how many places in Belgium have you tested before coming to this conclusion?

  21. > last time I was in Paris, prices were cheaper than in the middle of nowhere in Belgium

    You are comparing the McDonalds in Paris to a restaurant in Belgium?

  25. Usually, when I ask for an espresso and a glass of tap water, they will oblige. It’s annoying that they might not though, I don’t want to seem rude or like a cheapskate but sometimes I’m just really thirsty AND I want a good coffee and it’s silly to have to order two things..

    The thing about tap water is that i’s not free, the person

  28. They should do this at festivals and concerts too. Beer is basically cheaper than water these days

  29. Interviewer: why no free tap water?

    Owner: we need the revenue to stay alive.
    Interviewer: thanks!

    Camera pans as the owner drives away in his Bentley Bentega.

  31. https://freetap.water.blog/

    Map of restos in Belgium reported to offer free tap water. I’ve not tried any though so can’t speak for its accuracy

    I got into it with someone on this subject a while back and was told that I “obviously don’t eat out much” because I advocated for free water

    Tbh I don’t mind paying for bottled water, especially in a posh resto, but being asked 8 euro + for something I can get for under 2 in del haize gives me the rage

  32. I taste Wallon tap water every day, and in our commune, I’m glad they don’t serve it in restaurants, as I don’t like chlorine with my meal

  33. Tl dr its not economically possible for the same reason a minimum wage wasnt possible when it was first discussed. It cuts into profits

  35. Free tap water in England is about the only thing I can gloat about to my Belgian partner who is always pointing out how much better [insert policy] is in Belgium.

  36. Tapas place in Ghent called “Con Tigo” serves free tap water as well! I was pleasantly surprised to see that on the menu!

  37. I’m a bit double sided. we just charge too little for a meal so they charge on other places. 11 euros for a spaghetti but 30 euros for a wine?

  40. As an American who visits regularly, this is one of the biggest pain points every year haha

    One thing the US does right is free iced tap water everywhere

  41. In Australia, all venues serving or allowing the consumption of alcohol, must provide free water since 1988.

    Additionally, McDonalds and several other restaurants in Australia will give free water, even when a customer isn’t purchasing food

    I sometimes will go to drive thru at McDonalds for 2 large cups of water and nothing else (occasionally I’ll impulsively buy food when I do so I guess it’s a win for them too)

    It was kind of culture shock when I was in Belgium and found some venues would charge up to €3 for a tiny cup of water, when the same venue sells beer or soft drinks for less.

  42. I think it was in a restaurant in Colmar, France, where they asked €4 for a glass of water and €2 for a glass of tap water.

    I’m pretty sure they just gave different, more expensive menus to tourists. But I was stunned.

  43. This post is weirding me out. I never once paid for tap water. You guys ever paid for tap water?

    Sure, the menu mentions Spa. But if you just ask tap, you’ll get it.

  44. One of my friends has stopped drinking. In some bars he can get tap water for free but some still ask him to pay…

  45. Towards the end of the article you get the impression there’s a bit of a water mafia thing going on between mineral water producers and cafes/restos.

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