Water Bars

After a week of stock market chaos, emergency rate cuts and allegations of a record-breaking, multibillion-dollar banking fraud, investors would be forgiven for despairing and wondering whether there was anywhere safe left to invest. But after considerable deliberation I think I have found a solution: water. More specifically, water bars.

Let me explain. If you transported someone from 1978 to the modern British high street, the two things they would be most struck by would be the omnipresent coffee bars and mineral water. It is logical, therefore, to assume that the next big thing will be a combination of the two – mineral water bars.

If you can’t see anyone ever visiting such a dull establishment, I put it to you that 30 years ago you probably wouldn’t have been able to imagine people paying £2 for a latté or half as much for something available free from a tap. And, actually, such establishments are already springing up – pardon the pun.

Water bars exist in Tokyo, Philadelphia and New York. Though when I decided to investigate whether this trickle might turn into a torrent, I visited the biggest and best: the water bar in Colette, a trendy Parisian boutique that has been serving at least 75 types of bottled water for years…

Read atTimes Online