What thing was ruined because it turned into a rich person's hobby?

[NewLion]

attending Premier League football

Not RTFT, but Trump.

Actually I now realise there was nothing to ruin. He is and always was an utter cunt.

Apologies to the premise of the thread.

I can remember as a student going to gigs like Oasis, Pulp, Suede. They weren’t expensive as I was skint as a student. Iirc the ticket price was comparable to going out on a Friday night drinking so I just figured if I didn’t drink at the gig it would be the same. Oasis ticket was £10.

Thank you! This is just what I was thinking.
It's a bit like people whingeing about how poor people used to be able to live in central London not mentioning the fact it was several people to each bed, no washing facilities, almost no food or anything else.

18p for a first class stamp when I was a little girl.

We are in the grip of end stage capitalism. Rampant and continued inflation until money becomes worthless. After that it’s civil war.

Why?? I have two and they cost about £50 a month all in.

Women's running clubs. We live near a local park and the lovely woman PT instructor who has worked incredibly hard to build up a business around getting ladies to work out has unfortunately become a little too successful and is now starting to impose her own business on everyone else.

Walking around the park this group of affluent women, paying for the privilege of running in a free space (Surely paying for something that is free is a rich persons game in the current day) do not acknowledge anyone else at the park. They do not say thank you if you move out of the way and they expect you to move as they run 3-4 abreast. Ignorance is strong in these groups.

They usually do weekends and a mid week run. The weekend on they use the ample parking for the park which i commend. Midweek they do street runs and even though the park is about 500m from the ample car park to their meeting point they instead litter the pavements around a mini roundabout to park for their evening run causing mayhem.

The park is ideal for runners and there are hundreds who use it without issues but this 'rich persons' game of paying to be in a group is ruining it for everyone.

My teen would easily go to one a week if he was over 18. Plenty of great artists performing for under £30, but having to take his dad along is restrictive (he's busy and less keen).

I don't go to many now, but I used to go all the time when I was younger and living in North London, I have a treasure trove of old tickets. But I do go to the theatre a lot now, been 6 times so far this year. Tickets in sales, last minute, DH doesn't go so that keeps the cost down.

I do miss the days of being able to just rock up to my football team's ground (Championship) on a Saturday, pay my fiver and go and stand with my friends. Now you have to book weeks in advance if you don't have a season ticket and the cost has rocketed.

I go to the theatre in London maybe once a month. OK, we're often up in the balcony but many of the tickets are under £30. Think our Ballet Shoes tickets were £28 in the second row, Othello with Toby Jones and David Harewood was certainly way less than £40. I go to Glyndebourne maybe a couple of times a year (Autumn season) and never pay much. I get to see the same performance with a decent view and have the same experience.

If you're quick on the button, smaller regional venues are cheaper for concerts without the faff of heading to London (and risking missing the last train back).

Our local (slightly arty) cinema is way way cheaper than the similar one where my daughter lives. £6.99 tickets all day Mon/Tues/Wed plus a code for free parking.

I try to avoid eating anywhere mediocre then I don't feel bad splurging from time to time.

I'd say 14 gigs a year is a lot more than the typical person goes!

£75? For a concert? Well I do pay that for Taylor swift

standard around here for the music I like is £15 to £20. Just been to 3 so far this year.

Probably because many people don’t go to any

i guess 14 footie games would be more than a typical person goes

but for people who that is their hobby - football or music - then it’s normal and there is a lot of grass roots stuff that can keep costs down

Health & Safety laws have also increased the cost of everything. Buildings rules, campsite rules, driving laws etc. MN folk are always the first to mention safeguarding but all that requires people employed to do it, which costs money.
People say they can't afford more than one child anymore - it's partly because they need or want a bedroom per child and to take them out for fun and frolics. None of that used to be a requirement for having children. Just needed to feed them from time to time and have one set of school uniform with maybe 2 shirts each, if you were planning on washing a shirt mid week.
Parents didn't say they needed more sets of uniform because their child came home filthy. Instead the child who came home filthy was told off or clipped round the ear, to remind him to avoid getting quite so filthy.
Boys wore shirts until 11 because knees mend better than torn trousers. Couldn't just buy a new pair for £5 from ASDA.

But that £5 was still very expensive to many.
My parents baulked at the price of fish&chips and my father never, ever went to the pub, saying it just drained the family finances.
Incorrect: My parents popped in once leaving us eating crisps on a wall outside on holiday in Wales!)
But he was paying school fees and we were going on holidays in Europe three times a year. I'm not saying every family could have done that if they'd foregone the pub and fish&chips and football matches and £5 tickets to London, but not everyone was partaking in the "cheap" regular passtimes that so easily gobble up all the spare funds.

London Theatre, definitely. In fact even touring productions of West End style shows are becoming v pricey.
Some music gigs - £100+ tickets not uncommon.

Not necessarily because rich people have stolen it, but yeah...

Unaffordable (for most) now:

Football matches.
Going to the pub.
Taking the kids for a Maccies.
Rock/pop Concerts. (Most of them!)
The Theatre. (Most of them!)
Having a cat, or a dog.
Inland (UK) holidays.
Eating. (A chippy tea from the chip shop is extortionate!)
Driving. (Petrol prices!) 😬
Travelling by train.

I'm sure there's more!

.

Rich people. "Normal" folk have never stayed in luxury houses for holidays. They went camping or stayed in small, underwhelming B&B's (sharing bathrooms with strangers) for one week.
Aspirations have gone up more than costs.
Skiing is expensive, but it's a lot cheaper than it used to be. Only very rich people used to go skiing. Same as any holiday requiring an aeroplane.
Nowadays some people redecorate every few years, replacing furniture and soft furnishings. Even rich people never used to do that except for those living a very fashionable artistic lifestyle.
Hence old houses being full of antiques.

Was that Stoke-On-Trent Regent Theatre by any chance? My 2 adult DC and I went to see Six there.

I remember a large glass of wine from 10 years ago was a fiver for a decent one. You go now and it’s £10. I don’t remember my wages doubling in the last 10 years 🤔

Country walks, mostly because of parking. Yes, you can be inventive and park in a village and plan a walk carefully; but if you’re in somewhere like the Lake District, each car park is about £5, even for a short time. These places have “cashed in” on parking.

And, sadly, having children. It’s now very, very difficult to avoid expensive things, for each of them. And some politicians (protected by their bubble of wealth) wonder why the birth rate is so low.

we go to the theatre regularly and never pay for than around £50 a ticket locally and even in London it’s mainly around £70 and we’ve had some really good views. Yes some upmarket shows are around £100/120 each but it’s very easy to avoid these and still go to the theatre

Definitely this. We had Thorpe Park, Chessington and legoland land near us. We never went there as too expensive.

Well Glasto was £14 in my youth.
Most gigs ( chart toppers) were a fiver, tickets from the local record shop.
I think I earned a fiver a week from my paper round for context

There's a bit of irony there.

Football became a rich hobby because it became the Premier league in the early 90's

The sponsorship deals at the time and since we're the things that made it more unaffordable for the working person