Zinc tub drinks or planter
Updated: October 2026
The same oval photograph is labelled ice bucket on one line and herb planter on the next, and you are about to buy one object for both evenings. A zinc tub drinks or planter choice is a fork, not a compromise. Drainage holes and a watertight ice tub cancel each other. Once the base is open, meltwater and a bottle chill leave with it. The nine rows in the [zinc tub comparison](/hub/swimming-pools/zinc-tub) already split into drink tubs and garden tubs. This page is only that split. The Products Compared editorial team drew the line from those amazon.co.uk captures on 16 October 2026. There was no trial planting. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The same oval photograph is labelled ice bucket on one line and herb planter on the next, and you are about to buy one object for both evenings. A zinc tub drinks or planter choice is a fork, not a compromise.
The same oval photograph is labelled ice bucket on one line and herb planter on the next, and you are about to buy one object for both evenings. A zinc tub drinks or planter choice is a fork, not a compromise. Drainage holes and a watertight ice tub cancel each other. Once the base is open, meltwater and a bottle chill leave with it. The nine rows in the zinc tub comparison already split into drink tubs and garden tubs. This page is only that split. The Products Compared editorial team drew the line from those amazon.co.uk captures on 16 October 2026. There was no trial planting. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Job | Drainage | Capacity | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  LIVIVO LIVIVO 24 L DB150 | Drink tub | None supplied | 24 litres | 9.2 | about £12.99 | View offer |
| Preis-Tipp |  Sibosen Sibosen 15 L four-pack | Drink tub | Not stated | 15 litres | 8.8 | about £35.98 | View offer |
 Esschert Esschert OZ70 oval | Garden tub | Not stated | 21 litres | 8.6 | about £24.99 | View offer |
On this page
Two jobs that cancel each other
A drinks tub has to hold ice and meltwater for an evening. A planter that will live outdoors with soil has to let water leave, or the roots sit in a cold bath and the tub becomes a pond you did not plan. UK plant shops sell oval tubs without holes and tell you to drill the base if you will plant in them. Other zinc planters arrive with holes already. Those are different products from a party tub. The dual-use title hides the hole. If you drill the base of a tub you still want for bottles, you have finished the drinks job. You cannot tape the holes for Saturday and un-tape them for Sunday in any way these listings describe. A cut edge is also bare metal. BS EN ISO 1461 is the hot-dip standard for fabricated steel. These listings do not claim it, and a drilled hole is no longer even the original coat. Gardeners who use zinc planters note that a coating can rust at a cut. That is a reason to choose the job first. There is no bit, speed, or hole pattern here. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 still cares about the description. A page that says waterproof and planter in one breath is asking you to notice which sentence you paid for. Waterproof on a title does not prove there are no holes. You read the drainage field, the included-components line, and the reviews that actually filled the tub.
Leave it closed for drinks
Leave the base closed if the tub is for ice. In this file that group is the LIVIVO DB150 at £12.99, the 1ZIZIFA8 pair at £22.94, the YQGQSUAK pair at £32.99, the Sibosen four-pack at £35.98, the Katai at £37.95, and the YQGQSUAK four-pack at £47.99. The top pick for one station remains the 24 litre LIVIVO. None of those drink rows is sold as a holed planter. The Sibosen bullets do mention a planter. That sentence does not add holes, and it does not make four party tubs into herb pots. If you later drill them, you have left the drinks listing behind. Closed does not mean food-safe. Keep bottles closed or use a liner, which is part of how to use a galvanised ice tub. Closed also does not mean you can ignore a seep. Several UK reviews say the LIVIVO held ice and drinks without a leak. One UK review reports a slight seep. A garden pan review says that tub leaked on the first fill. A drinks tub that weeps is not rescued by calling it a planter after the fact, unless you truly want the other job and you accept the hole, the rust at the cut, and the end of the ice evening.
Drain it, or use it as a cache pot
If the job is plants, you either buy a vessel that already drains, or you accept that a closed tub is only a cache pot. A cache pot means the plant stays in its own pot inside the metal, and you tip the rain out. A UK gardening note is that rain still fills a closed tub outdoors, so you need a way for that water to leave. Emptying it keeps the metal continuous. Drilling ends any later ice use. A dedicated planter that already has holes is outside this comparison. Do not assume a drinks ASIN arrives drilled because a garden-centre tub does. The Esschert OZ70 at £24.99 is the shallow oval, about 21 litres and about 59 cm by 45 cm by 15 cm. The maker page matches a zinc tub. The amazon bullets describe a hanging-basket hook, and drainage is not stated. The MAISONICA at £26.45 asks about drainage and does not answer. Its measure line is 59 cm by 45 cm by 14.8 cm and 14.66 litres, with no review line. The pan tub at £44.99 states drainage as no. UK reviews use it for plants and a lily, and one says it leaked. A leak is not a designed hole, and it is not a reason to trust the pan with ice.
Which listing matches which job
Match the drink rows to bottles and the garden rows to the border. For one drinks station, the LIVIVO is the top pick at £12.99 and 24 litres. For several stations, the Sibosen four-pack has the review count, 4.5 from 123, and the material clash. For a shallow garden tub whose maker actually describes a tub, start with the Esschert OZ70 and ignore the bracket bullets, then water-test it because drainage is unstated. Skip the MAISONICA if you need a star rating. There is not one in the capture, and the shape field says round while the centimetres are oval. Use the pan tub only with your eyes open. It is £44.99, about 29 cm high, drainage stated as no, 4.4 from 14 reviews, and one of those reviews says it leaked. People have grown plants in it and stood a lily in it. A lily is water, not compost. That use is zinc tub garden pond safety, including the risk to a small child at a depth well under 30 cm. If you still want both jobs this summer, buy two tubs. One stays closed for ice. One is either a cache pot you empty, or a holed planter you will not ask to chill wine in September. The drinks top pick is £12.99, and a shallow garden oval is £24.99 or £26.45. Sharing one drilled tub across both jobs is the expensive mistake.
Common questions
Can one tub chill bottles tonight and grow herbs next month?
Only if you never open the base. Herbs in inner pots, with the tub emptied after rain or after the party, keep the drinks job. Herbs in soil in a drilled base end it. The listings here do not describe a reversible plug for that hole.
What happens if I drill the base?
The tub stops being an ice bucket. Water you wanted to keep will leave, and the cut is bare metal where the coat used to be. This page does not give drill steps. UK plant sellers treat drilling as the way to turn a closed tub into a planter, which is the opposite of a party fill.
Can I leave the metal closed and sit pots inside?
Yes. That is a cache pot. The inner pot drains into the metal tub, and rain does the same if the tub is outdoors. You have to empty that water. A closed cache still holds a puddle, which matters if a small child uses the garden.
Which rows in this file are the garden tubs?
The Esschert OZ70 at £24.99, the MAISONICA at £26.45, and the pan tub at £44.99. The LIVIVO, both pairs, the Sibosen four-pack, the Katai, and the YQGQSUAK four-pack are the drink rows. A planter sentence on the Sibosen bullets does not move it across.
Does waterproof on a title mean it has no holes?
No. Read the drainage field and the reviews that filled it. On the pan tub the drainage field says no, and one UK review still reports a leak. On the MAISONICA and the Esschert, drainage is not stated. Waterproof in a title is a claim to check, not a hole count.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources for satisfactory quality, galvanised coatings, food-contact materials, drinking-water tanks, and shallow garden water. Listings are the amazon.co.uk captures for these nine ASINs, not a live reload on 17 October 2026. Prices on amazon.co.uk move.
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- BS EN ISO 1461:2022, BSI (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- FSA food contact materials authorisation guidance (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Drinking Water Inspectorate, tanks and cisterns (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- RoSPA pond safety (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- RLSS UK, splash safely in the garden (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Esschert OZ70 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Le Tank round stock tank (retrieved 17 October 2026)