To be surprised at London prices?

[Boynamedsue]

Not for housing, I'm sure they're crazy but for food and drink. I'm a northerner and just spent a couple of days in London. Obviously I have been to London before but I think because I'm on my own this time I've noticed prices more than usual. And they're pretty much the same as any northern city.

I'm surprised because people always go on about how expensive London is but some places actually seem cheaper than my local big city. Maybe bars and restaurants in the north have just got really dear!

I also don't get the thing about London being unfriendly but that's probably a different thread!

the most expensive pint of cider I've ever had in a wetherpoons was in Manchester, £4. The cheapest was in Brixton, £2.29.

Are you trying to ruin London's reputation?
Everybody will flock there if they think prices are the same and people are friendly.
Jeez.

I live here and in London and in my experience it's mainly renting/buying property that's crazily expensive. And black cabs (mini cabs cheaper). And drinks (in bars/pubs). That's it really.

The most expensive things in London as against the rest of the country are housing and to a slightly lesser extent childcare. Food and drink isn't worse, I don't think? This is also why there are a surprising number of people able to live in London on very low wages: because some of them for whatever reason don't have the batshit housing costs.

Lweji -

We just moved to London from a small, relatively fancy SE city and apart from housing it's way better here. Far more choice. Eating out in cool little restaurants is definitely cheaper here for us.

I always find it more expensive in a city than in the countryside / small town, rather than specifically London.

However, I think it depends where you go within London I guess. There will be cheap places but alot of it is pricey.

I used to work for a famous high street restaurant chain and there were at least 4 different menus (same food). Airport, West End, high street, premium and convenience. You would pay at least 50p more per dish in premium, up to £1 more in airport. premium covered all major cities and west end was also used in places like Newcastle and Liverpool, touristy bits. Make of all of that what you will (I thought it was bloody awful, didn't last long!) Once you get off the main touristy bits (get thee to Zone 2!), it is entirely possible to eat delicious food at a reasonable price.

Lots of things in london are cheaper than more luxe parts of the Uk

• takeaways
• taxi
• nails / beauty
• tans
• certain restaurants e.g. Lots of competition for Indian & Greek or Turkish so cheaper prices

I'm always gobsmacked at prices when I go home to small Midlands town - definitely affected by lack of competition

Public transport in London is cheaper than Leeds, I think, especially if you pay Oyster card prices.

TFL website says a single bus trip is £1.50 but the cheapest in Leeds is £2.30 and that's a very short trip. Go more than about a mile or two and it's £2.90.

BarbaraofSevillle
you are correct, its a lot cheaper. BTW, you can only use an oyster card or contactless payment on a bus, there are no cash fares.

Takeaways are definitely cheaper in cities. I travel around quite a lot and am used to mostly urban Leeds prices for takeaways and London, Birmingham, Manchester etc seem about the same.

However go to a more rural area and it can be nearly double in price. Almost certainly a lack of competition thing. There is no 'Curry Mile' in the Cotswolds or rural Wales.

Public transport is a bargain in London. And kids travel free.

YABU and a bit silly. Clearly prices vary so you will pay more for a pint in Mayfair than you would in Kilburn. Have you ever studied economics? The market will charge the highest price that consumers will pay.

My parents and I moved from London to Kent and we often talk about how much more expensive it is here. Apart from housing, everything else is more. Bus journeys, council tax etc and it's a much shitter service. As pensioners who owned their own house my parents were better off in London.

I always wonder how the cheap London cafes/takeaways make a living considering how much rent they must have to pay for the unit (or have they owned it for a very long time?).

Long hours/lots of customers to make enough above the base costs?

Oh yes, Council tax. Some of the cheapest council taxes are in London Boroughs, but I suppose that's to do with lots of people paying a smaller amount each compared with more people paying a higher amount in lower population density areas.

Although, its hard to compare like with like as there will be more higher band properties in London than lower cost areas.

I think there's a bigger range in London which means there's far more places at the expensive end than what we have up here.

I've been to bars in London where the cost of a drink was twice anywhere I can think of in Newcastle - but that's because they are expensive places and everyone is paying on a company credit card Normal bars and restaurants are pretty comparable I find.

Council tax is cheaper in many London boroughs because they have other income streams that will make them a lot morr money - parking, business rates etc. - which Northern metropolitan boroughs just can't charge.

But OP, you're right that bars and restaurants in northern cities have got really expensive. In my mind a couple of pints of average lager should cost around £5-6 but you hardly seem to get any change from a tenner these days.

We stayed in South Kensington BTW.

I have lived in Kent, London, Edinburgh and rural Borders/Northumberland.

London is expensive for housing.
Kent is cheaper for housing but you have to pay to commute to London for decent wages.
Edinburgh is expensive for housing (not compared to London, but hugely compared to wages) also meals, etc.

Rural is expensive. People in the countryside are either landed or dirt poor or retired. There is no work, so housing is cheap but still inaccessible. Transport is almost non-existant but expensive so running at least one car only option. Utilities are expensive and limited. Fibre? forget it! I can pay more for a (substandard) 'frothy coffee' in my local farm shop than in most of central London (that, or the expensive Co op which charges more for its pizza than M&S) are the only options for 8 miles). Childcare is sparse, substandard and not cheap up here either.

I'd move to London like a shot if I won the lottery / wrote a bestseller!

One of my favourite Facebook updates of all time was from a friend who had lived in London before and was in town for a day for work or something - she wrote "£5.90 for a bottle of water and a man clipping his toenails on the tube - gotta love London" and a "crying with laughter" emoji.
Disclaimer: I might not remember the price of the water.

Yanbu and you're so right. Yes there are a lot of expensive places and bars. There are also a lot of cheap ones. It's a huge place. You can eat and drink at normal places for the same prices as anywhere else!