To wander how is cost of living cheaper outside of London

[where2now]

So I get rent/Mortage and childcare will be cheaper out of London especially further north. But what else is cheaper?? Everyone keeps saying cost of living is much cheaper up north. AIBU not to understand this? I mean supermarkets surely have the same price food all over the country right? And even retails stores ie clothes shopping??
I'm really wondering as we are considering moving out of London due to this but I just can't get my head around it.
Can anyone help and give examples I'll be very grateful? Thanks all

Oh and I'm sure traveling is cheaper by public transport but I don't think petrol is cheaper?

I have found food to be more expensive in London, and car parking.

I think it is mainly rent and rates and house prices.

And transport.

Shops do charge differently I believe.

Home insurance and car insurance can be cheaper. Cost of tradesmen for any home renovations. Council tax as house prices cheaper.

It costs London shops more to get stocks in - not many food shops in London will be within 5 miles of a farm but most non-London food shops would be. Transport costs higher due to congestion charging and needing to pay truckers for more actual hours due to traffic jams.

Excluding the point about farms the same goes for clothes and shoes.

Sometimes it's not that the same product is sold at different prices in London and York but that the budget option simply isn't available in London because it's not economical to stock it when you are paying higher London store lease costs so you only stock the more premium products where you can get away with a higher markup.

Just rent/mortgage really. Transport costs up here are far more expensive and there has been no investment in infrastructure. However housing costs are your biguest outgoing so you can be far better off. Also no need to travel from zone 6 or surburbs back into town for culture. Taxis here are very cheap and take 15 minutes for concerts/theatre/food.

Transport costs actually much higher in some places outside London. My family live in the north-east: a bus fare there is three times the cost of a London one.

Childcare isn’t necessarily cheaper, it just depends where you go. Some parts of northern england you can expect to pay hundreds more than London for cc.

Food / clothing expenses - again depends on the area. I personally find more price choice and cheaper prices in London than anywhere else in the UK and I travel a lot.

Rents / house prices - again depends on location. There are many commuter towns into London where the house prices are on a par with Greater London. In fact in some parts of Oxfordshire you can now expect to pay more for a house than Watford etc.

Public Transport costs are massively more outside London. On London buses kids go free, here I have to pay for them. And the adult fares are loads more too.

I lived in London for 15 years before returning to my native north west

It is basically just housing costs and childcare that you save on, but those savings are significant - £100 a day for nursery in London, £40 up here; and I am sure you know all about the difference in housing cost
Things like cars, clothes, food pretty much the same
Salaries are also lower though. And in fact I find some things were cheaper in London. Public transport (buses £1, up here min £3 a journey; tram up here more expensive than the tube); things like dry cleaners, there are fewer of them up here so no completion; cheaper/mid prices restaurants - again less competition up here. And trying to get decent flights to anywhere is more expensive, nearly always have to fly via Heathrow

Other than rent/mortgage a lot of it is the same. Sainsbury's, Esso, BT and Eon don't charge less for goods and services just because you're not in London. Transport in many areas outside London is more expensive

London public transport is the best and cheapest in the UK.

buying cars is cheaper up north and I've heard they have bakeries where everything is £1.

My DP's parents come to visit us from Manchester and we are in South West London and they always complain that the supermarkets are more expensive in London.

There is a lot more free entertainment in London too

Food, drink, eating/drinking out all cheaper. It used to be cheaper to buy a return train ticket up north & travel to London, than it was to buy the same ticket in London. I live close to London & frequently travel north to visit family & I do notice quite a difference & that's without rents etc

Thanks for the responses, I had no idea transport was so expensive out of london wow. So I guess it's the housing and childcare mostly. Although some of you have mentioned possibly slightly cheaper in terms of shopping.
As wages are less it makes me think if it's worth moving out of London. I don't have childcare costs at the moment although have 4dc. So I guess it will be a cheaper mortgage If we find a cheaper house. I'm noticing though in a good area with good schools house prices are that much cheaper than here.

Actually I find that outside of housing, costs are often higher outside of London. Yes, there are some high end places that cost a bomb, but there are loads of cheaper alternatives thanks to competition. Where I live now the average price for a not very exciting main course is around £14-16. This is for food that they'd never get away with charging so much for in London.

Supermarket prices are the same, but street markets are better quality for cheaper in comparison to where I am now - thinking of places like Ridley Rd etc. There's also loads more bargain type local shops selling household goods and groceries, more plentiful and cheaper than in the provinces.

Bus travel is loads cheaper although the Tube is of course expensive.

There are deals to be had on theatre tickets, it's good value going to the Proms which of course runs all summer. There are loads of free cultural events, there are museums, great parks.

It's easy to pick up very nice clothes for not much outlay - markets, cheap little fashion stores, and for higher end places they totally slash prices at the end of the season because there's no way they'd put it out again - none of this five year old stock cluttering up the rails come January that you get in other places (with people, mystifyingly, queuing from 5am to buy it).

So on balance, discounting housing, I'd say if you look around and get to know where to go, you can have a richer cultural life for cheaper and also the nuts and bolts to keep you ticking over are cheaper too.

Roxkinhipie wow really? I'm
Just always confused when everyone says it's so much cheaper to live out of London, say midlands for example. I always thought shopping will be same so main thing is housing. This is good to know thanks

Harolds thanks for that in depth info. It makes sense I'll have a good think before we make a decision. Thanks

We recently moved from just outside London and petrol is about 10p cheaper where we are now. I’m not sure it’s cheaper everywhere though.

For us, transport cost makes a massive difference, DH’s new commute means he only needs one tank a month, whereas before he needed one a week (small city car).

Midlands - it used to cost me £12 per day to take a bus 5 miles where I lived previously. I had to change 3 times and couldn’t walk the route as it was a very busy A road. House prices in decent areas are not much cheaper than North London (cousin just bought a 3 bed semi fixer upper near Harrow for 380k while brother bought a 3 bed semi fixer upper for 330k in an equally nice area of Nottinghamshire). Food and clothing is definitely more expensive as there is less choice in Nottingham and Leicester compared to London. Alcohol might be cheaper if you drink in bars, but there are more shops to buy alcohol in London & therefore shopbought stuff is a lot cheaper.

DutchyDuke yes I noticed that about house prices. We've been considering moving to have a better lifestyle financially but I'm really struggling to make a decision if we'd actually be better off or not 😫

Public Transport costs are massively more outside London. On London buses kids go free, here I have to pay for them. And the adult fares are loads more too.

Not true. In the city I live in (not London) bus fare is £2.20. In the town where I work it's £1.50.

Agree that outside London public transport is more expensive, and kids do not get free transport. Also far less free entertainment available. Council tax is more expensive outside of London
Restaurants, pubs, childcare and rents/mortgages are cheaper most places outside of London.
I find supermarkets pretty much the same except in rural areas where they are more expensive. We do a supermarket shop and take it to my MIL as it is much cheaper than the prices she pays in a rural well off area.