A VISITOR to Broadway was left hot under the collar after being refused a glass of cold tap water at one of the village's restaurants.

John Rickard, a pensioner from Surrey, wrote to the Journal after his visit angry that, when he asked for a glass of tap water, a woman member of staff at Roberto's Coffee House, refused him, saying they needed to sell bottled water to maintain an adequate profit margin.

However, the restaurant manager has hit back, saying the company stopped serving tap water a long time ago after it generated complaints from customers.

Mr Rickard said: "This was the first time in my 74 years that I have been refused a glass of tap water. "Since this incident I have been in extensive and continuing correspondence with tourist boards, the BBC and several other organisations and it appears there is no legal obligation on a restaurateur to provide tap water."

He said: "Given that nothing in life is free, I would have no objection in principle to paying a nominal sum for a small jug of tap water.

"But, to deny water which is literally 'on tap' at almost nil cost, and force customers to buy bottled water is, in my view, unethical and certainly inhospitable." He concluded: "It seems that people who fancy a glass of tap water with their meal need to choose their restaurant carefully."

Roberto Fracaffo, manager of Roberto's, on The Green, said that the woman Mr Rickard spoke to was most probably his wife.

He pointed out that he stopped serving tap water ages ago when he received complaints from customers.

He said: "Tap water comes out all cloudy or it's not the right temperature.

"We don't have ice on the premises so we can't chill it."

He also said, in his opinion, many places did not sell tap water these days, just bottled mineral water.