Fortnum & Mason supports Standard campaign

Fortnum and Mason, London's oldest department store, has thrown its weight behind the Evening Standard's Water On Tap campaign.

The 301-year-old Piccadilly institution said it is to offer tap water alongside bottled, still and sparkling in all five of its eating outlets.

Managing director Beverley Aspinall said: "We are proud to be supporting the Evening Standard's Water On Tap campaign. We are also encouraging our office staff to use tap water in meetings."

The restaurants are St James's, Gallery, Fountain, Parlour and the 1707 wine bar.

Fortnum & Mason was refurbished last year and has been attracting record numbers of visitors to its eating venues.

The decision means all London's top department stores are backing the Standard. Harvey Nichols said all its restaurants, including the Fifth Floor, were "more than happy" to provide tap water.

Catering managers at Selfridges have ordered dozens more jugs in anticipation of an increase in demand for tap water.

A spokesman for Harrods said: "We offer tap on request. If people ask for it we certainly do serve it." Joe Teixeira, head of catering at John Lewis, said: "In our bistro and brasseries in Oxford Street, and Peter Jones, we are happy to offer customers still, sparkling or tap."

Evening Standard is calling on restaurants, bars and cafés in the capital to provide free tap water on an equal footing with expensive and environmentally damaging bottled water.

Thames Water calculates that one litre from the tap accounts for 0.3 grammes of carbon dioxide and costs about 0.097p a litre. A 750ml bottle of mineral water can have a carbon footprint 300 times higher, depending on where the liquid was shipped from.

In a blind tasting organised by Decanter magazine, London tap water topped the table.