When did water first start being sold in bottles in the UK?

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HellsBells Mar 2023 9:19am, 15 Mar 2023 31,068 posts	0 HellsBells Definitely not in the 70’s or earlier - we didn’t even take water bottles on our DofE expeditions or Guide camps as they weren’t on the packing lists
paulcook Mar 2023 9:27am, 15 Mar 2023 2,439 posts	0 paulcook Perrier in the 1970s? bbc.co.uk When was Peckham Spring bottled?!
Diogenes Mar 2023 9:29am, 15 Mar 2023 77,308 posts	0 Diogenes I remember Perrier coming in to fashion in the Eighties along with yuppies and carphones. People laughed at the idea of paying for water, even if it was fizzy. Even then it was only available in bars and restaurants. Shops only sold cans of pop and little cartons of juice. If people carried water it was in Tuppaware beakers with lids that always leaked, so generally you didn't bother.
paulcook Mar 2023 9:31am, 15 Mar 2023 2,440 posts	0 paulcook People laughed at the idea of paying for water Even as kids, we always called Evian, Naive instead.
HappyG(rrr) Mar 2023 9:43am, 15 Mar 2023 45,912 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) It was A Thing on holidays abroad I seem to remember. "Don't drink the tap water." Bottled water only - probably Spain or Greece holiday in late 70s, early 80s? But UK tap water all the way! Including drinking fountains. Actually, remember drinking fountains? Much more common than today, I would say. G
GordonG Mar 2023 9:45am, 15 Mar 2023 9,659 posts	0 GordonG thanks all for your brilliantly helpful comments. Yes as i suspected, the bit of her story where someone offers a bottle of water is unrealistic for the time. Much appreciate kind Fetchies
Llamadance Mar 2023 9:59am, 15 Mar 2023 10,369 posts	0 Llamadance does the novel specifically say sold? Could it be a glass bottle filled with water from a tap?
Llamadance Mar 2023 10:05am, 15 Mar 2023 10,370 posts	0 Llamadance Also found a mineral water manufacturer (Edwin Bing) who appears to have been around in late 1880's machadoink.com though apparently Bing's was sold in 1968 and their water wasn't widely available beyond Kent and London
GordonG Mar 2023 10:11am, 15 Mar 2023 9,660 posts	0 GordonG does the novel specifically say sold? It mentions a shop. Also found a mineral water manufacturer (Edwin Bing) who appears to have been around in late 1880's That's interesting. I've suggested to my friend, though, that it's still an unlikely scenario.
Diogenes Mar 2023 10:12am, 15 Mar 2023 77,311 posts	0 Diogenes Someone in the seventies would be more likely to offer to fetch someone a glass of water.

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Maintained by 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 Perrie...

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When did water first start being sold in bottles in the UK?

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