When did water first start being sold in bottles in the UK?
2 watchers
Mar 2023
8:38am, 15 Mar 2023
9,658 posts
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GordonG
I know this is a very specific question but an initial bit of googling hasn't provided the answer. i'm currently proof reading the draft of a novel a friend of mine has written. It's about poor Irish immigrants to London and seems to be set pre-decimalisation (before 1971). But she has a line where someone who isn't feeling well is offered a bottle of water. Thing is, as a child in the 1970s I have a vague recollection of hearing about how some company called Perrier were offering water in bottles. (In bottles!!! My how we laughed at those rich people being conned!!) My friend is in her early 30s so i suspect she doesn't know a time without bottled water. Can anyone recall when it became common to carry around a bottle of water that you could casually give to someone who needed it? I'm thinking that it definitely wasn't a thing in the 1950s and 60s but maybe that was just where I grew up. ta |
Mar 2023
8:42am, 15 Mar 2023
41,317 posts
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EvilPixie
I can't remember water bottles when I first started working which was the 90s! I used to do a lot of horse riding and we never had water then I don't think people did then as there wasn't the "keep hydrated" thing or "drink as you are dehydrated not hungry" from the diet industry Bottled water in restaurants maybe |
Mar 2023
8:47am, 15 Mar 2023
36,677 posts
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Ocelot Spleens
Looks wrong to me, 1970s I would guess is when but it wouldn't have been common. Context, where, in the book is this happening. If it is just on a street corner somewhere and people are not well off, then nope.
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Mar 2023
8:51am, 15 Mar 2023
2,016 posts
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Homeless Kodo
In the 1970s you’d have been offered a bottle of Lucozade wrapped in crinkly plastic if you weren’t feeling well.
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Mar 2023
8:54am, 15 Mar 2023
4,645 posts
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trumpton riots
A bit premature, GG. Bottled water has only been regulated in the uk since the 1990 food safety act (since revised as specific water legislation in 2007 and 2015). Previously, imported (Perrier / Evian), or bottled tap water was available in the 1970s.
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Mar 2023
8:55am, 15 Mar 2023
2,356 posts
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MudMeanderer
This link suggests early C17 https://alexasprings.com/history-bottled-water/#:~:text=1622%20%E2%80%94%20The%20United%20Kingdom%27s%20Holy,for%20its%20perceived%20medicinal%20value. There are also a few examples of miner's bottles from C19. How prevalent in London in mid C20 I don't know, but not entirely impossible. |
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Mar 2023
8:56am, 15 Mar 2023
2,357 posts
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MudMeanderer
Try that link again alexasprings.com
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Mar 2023
9:03am, 15 Mar 2023
45,910 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I feel like it was unusual even in the 80s. Yuppies, Evian or other posh French bottled water, ditto sparkling water?  G
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Mar 2023
9:15am, 15 Mar 2023
58,785 posts
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Derby Tup
Weak tea with sugar and too much milk for the sickly, or what Kodo said. Both great incentives to get well pdq
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Mar 2023
9:15am, 15 Mar 2023
21,290 posts
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Sharkie
Looks like I'm the oldest person to comment so far... I'd say definitely NOT. Not pre early 70s, not even mid 70s.
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