Overall, the average UK plumber drinks an average of 2.4 cups each day, which adds up to 360,000 cups of tea a day across the entire country.
The survey was carried out as part of Wavin’s State of the Nation project, which asks plumbers about their view of the trade and experience in it.
When looking at the regional splits, plumbers in the South West came out as the top tea drinkers, drinking an average of 2.79 cups each day, quickly followed by those in the North East, 2.78, then the South East, 2.63. It was Northern Irish plumbers who drank the least amount, having just two per day.
It was the areas where plumbers that drank the most tea and coffee that also came out as having the most welcoming customers. In the South East, 90% of plumbers said their customers were welcoming, while in the North East the figure was even higher at 95%.
When it comes to length of service, the most experienced plumbers came out on top in tea terms, plumbers with more than 30 years of experience reported that they drink a whopping 3.5 cups each day, suggesting that it’s easy to get a taste for it after a lifetime in the trade.
At the other end of the scale, millennial plumbers drink less tea and coffee than their older counterparts. However, Gen-Z plumbers seem to be picking the habit back up, drinking more than millennials and almost as much as their older colleagues.
Kelli-Ann Green (she_plumbs), a plumber based in the North West, said: “It’s impossible to underestimate the restorative power of a brew when you’re running out of steam or struggling with a tricky problem on a job. I tend to have one or two a day, but I save them for when I need them most. Almost every customer will offer a tea and some biscuits, and you learn quickly that you can’t say yes to them all, not if you don’t want to spoil your dinner anyway!”