The tide turns as big chains join our tap water campaign

Many of London's leading restaurant and café chains, including Starbucks, Wagamama and Strada, have joined the Evening Standard's Water On Tap campaign.

Their support means hundreds of high street outlets across the capital will now offer free tap water to customers without prejudice.

The campaign, which was only launched on Monday, is rapidly gaining momentum as coffee shops and Michelin-starred restaurants alike pledge to help make asking for tap water more socially acceptable.

Evening Standard wants to end the practice of restaurants automatically offering "still or sparkling" when diners give their orders, steering them towards expensive bottled water rather than the freely available alternative.

Today, Starbucks became the single biggest supporter of the campaign with all 260 of its branches within the M25 committed to providing free tap water. Brian Waring, marketing director of Starbucks Coffee Company UK & Ireland, said: "We are more than happy to offer Starbucks customers tap water if they ask for it. We are committed to offering a range of beverages, including the highest quality coffees."

Several of London's high-profile restaurant chains also said customers would be welcome to ask for free water when they came to dine.

Noodle chain Wagamama, which has 29 branches across the capital, gave its firm backing to the Standard's initiative. A spokeswoman said: "Wagamama is happy for customers to order tap water, which is served like any other Wagamama drink and comes with ice. It's our policy not to judge our customers. We also stock bottled water, both still and sparkling."

Russel Joffe, founder and director of the Giraffe restaurant chain, said he was fully committed to the aim of the campaign, adding: "Our staff happily offer an option of tap and bottled to all guests."

A spokesman for Italian restaurant chain Strada said: "We actively supply bottled tap water to all our customers and all tap water is complimentary."

Simon Atkins, operations manager of the Balls Brothers chain of City wine bars, said: "If anyone wants tap water we always provide it. That has always been the case and it certainly will remain the case."

The support of the big chains is significant because they serve far more Londoners than the famous chefs such as Tom Aikens and Aldo Zilli, who were among the earliest backers of the campaign. Aikens said people needed to be "re-educated about how good London tap water actually is".

Britons drink around three billion bottles of water a year - half a billion of which come from abroad - and they all have to be transported to the restaurants, pubs and shops where they are sold. Transporting bottled water in Britain is estimated to produce 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, equivalent to the annual energy use of 6,000 homes.

* If you want to support our campaign, click on the image below. Your restaurant will be added to an online database of premises backing Water on Tap.