What will happen about this?

I live in the UK.
I dropped my Apple iPhone down the toilet. It completely broke. I have no insurance.

So I went into the store and they said they will book me an appointment with the genuis bar and will give me a 'new' iPhone.

Will this be a refurbished one or not? Also, what does refurbished ACTUALLY mean?

Aint got a scooby mate

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe refurbished is when they take a broken phone that's capable of saving, fix it, then sell it at a discount price.
Most likely you're paying something, not sure how much, for a new phone.
I went to the genius bar to fix a cracked screen and I had to pay even with insurance.

Unfortunately you are at the mercy of the retailer. They will probably give you whatever item has the least cost for them. Refurbished is not a bad deal. The item has usually been restore to full functionality and was inspected before leaving the factory. The item technically is "used" since it has been in use and circulation to some degree.
Refurbished and repaired are different of course. Repaired meaning that the defective part has simple been replaced. But the rest of the item has not been inspected.
Here is a definition of refurbished - http://en.wikipedia.org/...ectronics)