RNLI Tricks Londoners with Pop-up Bar

It’s no secret that Britain’s lifeguards are amongst some of the nation’s bravest citizens, having to battle stormy weather conditions and rough tides to heave people out of the sea. And most of the lifeguards and lifeboat crews are actually volunteers.

Last weekend, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) opened The Bottle, a London pop-up bar (below), in partnership with Red to launch its H2Only fundraising challenge, tasking participants with giving up the drinks they love for 10 days to raise money for the organisation.

The pop-up contained bottled water that from the outset looked like fancy glass water dispensers but upon closer inspection, labels (below) revealed that the water within was actually seawater collected from 10 of Britain’s most dangerous coasts.

Each label explained the perils of the UK’s waters and its potentially life-threatening contents, if consumed – as well as raising awareness of the RNLI’s hard work.

“It’s a way for us to showcase the bottle – the courage – of our volunteer lifeboat crew members who brave extreme conditions day-in day-out and rescue on average 22 people per day,” says RNLI’s Thames operations manager Neil Withers. Last year alone, 7,973 people were rescued from Britain’s shores by the volunteers.

If you want to take part in the H2Only challenge, click here to find out more. The challenge launches today until September 23.