Bars, restaurants and coffee shops

We asked our customers what they would like bars, restaurants and coffee shops to do to reduce their emissions and if they would be prepared to pay more for their services. They told us they would be happy to pay around 25-30% more for a meal in a restaurant, 15% more in a bar and 5% more in a coffee shop if the business was taking action to reduce its emissions and using its website to tell customers about the measures it was taking.

Below we have listed the actions that customers would like bars, restaurants and coffee shops to carry out now and in the future.

What customers would like bars, restaurants and coffee shops to do now

• Install electric vehicle charge points
• Use locally sourced produce
• Introduce electronic receipts
• Avoid the use of plastic bags or plastic straws
• Introduce reusable cups
• Reduce packaging or use recycled packaging.

What customers would like bars, restaurants and coffee shops to do in future

• Install solar panels
• Use wonky veg (restaurants)
• Use electric delivery vehicles
• Use efficient, eco-friendly appliances
• Install LED lighting
• Turn down heating and air-conditioning
• Install self-closing doors.

Lake District cafés cut energy costs by switching to LED lighting

At Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway in Cumbria, Lake District Estates have taken steps to make their facilities as sustainable as possible. Measures implemented include the installation of LED lighting, recycling 100% of their waste, removing single use plastics from its cafes and installing water taps so customers can refill their own containers for free. At Dalegarth Station there are also two free-to-use electric car charge points.

The installation of LED lighting has resulted in a saving of around £30 per day in energy bills for each of the railway’s two cafes.

Hampshire hotel reduces energy use by 31%

The Sandford Springs Hotel in Hampshire has fitted solar panels and an energy efficiency system to cut its energy use by 31%.

Solar energy supplier Anesco installed a 100-panel, roof-mounted solar system which now generates over 27.5 MWh of renewable energy a year, enough to power more than five detached houses, while saving over 14 tonnes of carbon annually. The system is expected to pay for itself in just over 7.5 years and allows any excess energy to be sold back to the grid.

The hotel has also installed an energy efficiency system to its air conditioning, refrigeration and heat pump systems which has led to a 31% reduction in energy, delivering further costs savings and environmental benefits to the hotel. Find out more.

LED lighting saves over 100 tonnes of CO₂

Electricity North West had a range of lighting systems that varied in age and efficiency at its eight non-operational sites with lighting accounting for between 20-50% of the overall energy use at each site.

We therefore chose to install LED lighting at all of these sites to reduce energy consumption and costs. We expect the investment of £360,000 to be paid back within three years and to save 107.62 tonnes CO₂e every year. Find out more.