To be a bit shocked how much cheaper things are in other parts of the country

I own a 4 bed detached house I paid 130k for in 2014. Now worth 230ish in other areas even an hour away it would be double or 3x that.

But remember often wages are lower too. A quick google suggests my job would pay 10k more in more affluent areas.

I work in central London and live in a commuter town.
Boots is definitely more expensive in London and the Tesco is a tesco express which I expect to be more expensive.

Parking is much more expensive where I live - its not busy or touristy, than several nearby towns (eg 6-10 miles away) , although obviously not comparable with London.

When I went to visit university towns with DD a couple of years ago, parking was extortionate in Brighton, Bath and Cambridge (as expected) but more affordable in Norwich and Bournemouth

That's a fair point - but it's still annoying when you consider that in many of those places, rents/house prices for customers will be a lot higher because of the area, so it feels like we're being hit at every angle!

Most of the people I see on mumsnet claiming to be skint on a high salary have mortgaged themselves upto the eyeballs and have two children in full time childcare in central London. Although I do live in the SE and earn minimum wage so it's possible I'm bitter.

I get really cross by that. I live in Oxford and the prices are always ridiculous compared to some parts of the country. Just because some people can afford to pay more, it doesn't mean that others can. We can afford it, but it still puts me off when I realise the chain restaurants think I should pay more just because I live here. This seems to have got worse in recent years, too.

They are. Hence us moving from Somerset to North Yorkshire this year

You want to try living somewhere like Orkney, the outer Hebrides or a remote Scottish island where the only option for groceries is the Co-Op.

I went to a film at Taunton Odeon last week and it was £8.50 for one adult ticket which I would have said was probably about average. Bridgwaters new cinema is around the same price

No, they need to know so they can check the stock in the store or warehouse they shop from and, in some cases, whether they deliver to you at all.

I heard that myth so many times and so excited, ran to M&S on my visit to relatives in Glasgow - you know, wanted to take advantage of things being so much cheaper. Utter bollocks, same prices as in High Street Ken.

Yes they do. I worked in a small supermarket in the suburbs and we had a colleague who had to travel through the city centre to work and would call in to the bigger branch to get the stuff on offer and he said they didn't have some iof the offers and a lot of the stuff was dearer.

I do think with the big supermarkets a lot of the difference is as much what ranges they have in stock as pricing for individual products.
If we call into the Morrisons in Byker, which is a fairly cheap area near Newcastle centre for a shop it’s generally cheaper than going to our local Morrisons at the coast but that’s really because more value/basics range options are sold in in Byker and more the best stuff/pricier branded items at the coast. If I buy an identical thing like supermarket milk/free range eggs/pre pack fruit/meat etc it costs the same.
Tesco express, Sainsbury’s local etc are definitely more expensive and the ones in city centres tend to fall into that branding regardless of size

It's always been this way though.

Years ago I went up to Sunderland from London, paid for a round of drinks for 4 or 5 of us in a pub and actually got change from a tenner!! I was honestly shocked!

It does.

It’s how markets work. They charge what people are able and willing to pay.

That’s why housing shouldn’t be left to the market. Whenever it has been, there’s been appalling homelessness, as there is now.

Ha yes I remember living in military married quarters, cheap (and frankly usually ugly) housing with top of the range cars parked outside.

I earn a 'southern' salary but live in a northern town. Our quality of life would be gone if I had to move south or take a job with local pay rates. I don't know how people do it. It must feel like you're existing rather than living.

@Macaroni46 Where did I describe the W Midlands as the South?
My original post was comparing prices in WMidlands to the NE, (the latter having being compared, by the original poster, to prices in the South).
My 2nd comment was to another poster who saying that the W Mids (where I live) is one of the most deprived areas of the country. I was disputing that as a generalisation - The W Midlands, like many other regions, is very varied.

It is housing that will save you most. We visited our girls in Lancaster and their cousin in Barrow. You can buy houses 2/3 bedroomed for£100.000 of a bit of work needed. What were really noticed was all the expensive cars. Apparently housing so cheap and salaries not so bad in Barrow with BAE systems that employ loads of locals, so everyone buys top model cars with their sister cash. Rows of terraced houses with BMWs, Audi's, Land rovers, Lambo's etc

I visited my DD recently in Surrey, the fuel was cheaper there than it is in this corner of Somerset.