Some 100,000 people have signed a petition calling on Dutch restaurants to place a carafe of tap water on the table without being asked.

Research by TNS Nipo shows 75% of restaurant-goers have been refused tap water, even though most people are prepared to pay towards the cost.

The research also showed 90% of people regard providing tap water as a sign of being a good host, drinking water company Vitens said. Vitens organised the petition together with other water boards and healthy eating campaigners.

All but one of the Netherlands’ Michelin-starred restaurants offers tap water as standard, Vitens points out.

Cafes

Meanwhile, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday that three out of four Dutch cafes and bars are not performing as well as they did before the start of the financial crisis in 2007.

The number of cafes and bars in the Netherlands has slumped by 13% to 11,000 since 2008. One in five bars has closed down in Groningen, Drenthe and Limburg in that time, the CBS said.