A gin shop is giving a discount to customers who get their own empty bottles filled.

York Gin customers get £5 off when their own clean 70cl spirits bottle is filled with one of York Gin’s six flavours.

And for this weekend only (January 28 and 29), York residents can get an extra 10% discount as part of the Residents’ Festival Weekend. They just have to prove they live in York to get this extra discount.

The company - already a sustainable business leader - is trying to encourage customers to re-use their old bottles (whether York Gin bottles or other spirits bottles) instead of throwing them away or getting them recycled. Re-using things is much more eco-friendly than even recycling.

The offer is open at York Gin’s shop in the 16th Century Sir Thomas Herbert’s House at 12 Pavement, opposite Shambles in the historic heart of the city. The £5 discount for using the refill station will continue indefinitely for all customers.

A £2,000 grant from local bus company First York has helped to finance the scheme. 

York Gin has also used part of the grant to help its trade customers cut down on the number of bottles they use.

Instead of sending individual bottles to bars and pubs, York Gin is offering a discount if they accept a Jerry can of gin - and fill the bottles they already have.

This could mean a huge reduction in the number of bottles used - and again York Gin are offering discounts to pubs, bars and restaurants to encourage take-up of the scheme. 

The first trade customers include York Viking bar, Valhalla, and the multi-award-winning Grays Court hotel. First York organised a competition for local businesses to share a £20,000 pot to develop schemes to help the environment.

York Gin co-founder Emma Godivala said: "We have already done lots of work to minimise our environmental impact. We have a 100% green energy tariff, drive electric vehicles, have 100% plastic-free bottles and packaging and we source virtually everything in our supply chain from York and Yorkshire. We also send none of our waste to landfill. 

"These new schemes will reduce our energy use further. Customers to the shop and our trade customers can really feel that they are doing their bit to help with the climate crisis. 

Emma added: "We really want the message to get out to a wider audience and for more businesses to encourage this behaviour. Re-using things is so much better than even recycling.  It means items aren’t just thrown away after being used just the once.

"Big thanks to First York for encouraging local businesses to introduce new sustainable schemes like ours."