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

I definitely find that food in London is more expensive.. even in shops like Tesco, an item does cost more in a London store than they do where I live on the outskirts of Leeds.

From what I can work out from threads on here, builders etc charge a lot more in London than where I live.

From what I can work out from threads on here, builders etc charge a lot more in London than where I live

I am sure most self employed people charge more in London.

It's fascinating though - economics.What the market will bear, what people need to charge and all the factors that go into setting reasonable prices and reasonable salaries.

I suppose London vs the rest of the UK is just a microcosm of the same reasons why prices are different in the rest of the world.

If London had its own currency and could set its own interest rates, it would be an expensive place to visit for people who aren't from London.

It's the housing and childcare really, the other stuff works out swings and roundabouts. Like, more free stuff in London but indy shops that can pay lower rents and pass this to customers in cheaper areas.

It's true that there is housing and childcare available at London prices outside London. There are individual examples of million pound houses, £90 a day nurseries etc elsewhere...but not the norm. You will be able to opt out of that if you live in Birmingham or wherever.

Council tax is actually pricier in most places in the UK outside of London.

Someone commented on flying and they go via London. LHR is ridiculously expensive, a flight we priced up was £700 from Heathrow but £640 from Manchester, a flight which included the shuttle to LHR to catch the £700 flight! Lots of people outside London use Amsterdam for long haul.
There's an assumption that the North is cheap but is has some very expensive areas, comparable with Greater London so cheapness isn't a given.

Wow thanks everyone for the replies, where I live the costs are:
Childminder £6ph £3.50ph
Cinema £ 10pp £11ph
Swimming £25 pc same
After school club £17 pc 3-6pm £10 but only 15 spaces so we use a childminder
Holiday club £28pc £21
Parking at shopping centre £4.50 0-2 hours Free
and much more for any longer
Parking on Rd Cheapest 60p for 30 mins
Hairdresser cheapest £27 wash cut blow dry £25
Plumber £50 call out charge + parts and labour £40

But we're in Oxfordshire so it's still fairly pricy and whilst where I like to shop is free parking, Oxford is daylight robbery for parking so we get the bus if we go!

As pps have said, public transport and entertainment (eg museums, galleries etc) are cheaper and there are more of them. This makes a huge difference for cost of school trips (so in London pupils will be going on a free bus to a free museum, whereas outside London you would usually be paying for a coach to a paid attraction). Also, London has a real 'park culture'. So you can really enjoy great facilities and atmosphere in the local park on a Saturday, whereas elsewhere you might need to buy a ticket to an event to get a similar experience when you crave it..

memememum yes London has loads of free parks and museums but also the vast amount of the rest of the country has easy access to free countryside, woods and coastlines every weekend. We can go den building in local woods, to the beach or paddling in rivers after a walk in the country if we want free stuff to do at a weekend. Most places have some kind of free children’s events on regularly. London is fab but it’s silly to say that everywhere else in the country has to pay to do anything! London parks after all were made to allow London residents to have access to something approximating the countryside... hundreds of thousands of people have access to the real free thing.

I don’t think living in a commuter town near London makes things much cheaper but in the North east for example where my parents live it’s very obvious how cheap stuff is in comparison. I think if you properly moved away a good 200-300 miles up north you’d notice it. House prices mainly, also Newcastle has a Metro service so good transport, childcare and services are cheaper, food and drink is cheaper too.

Costs of some common commodities vary throughout the North, too - petrol being the most obvious.

Petrol costs in Manchester are much cheaper than in many less urban parts of the North, for example.

London has a real 'park culture'. So you can really enjoy great facilities and atmosphere in the local park on a Saturday, whereas elsewhere you might need to buy a ticket to an event to get a similar experience when you crave it

So just like Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Bradford, Sheffield, Birmingham etc?

Never understood why Londoners seem to think they have the monopoly on big free city parks. Most cities and large towns have them.

Never understood why Londoners seem to think they have the monopoly on big free city parks. Most cities and large towns have them

Exactly.

Never understood why Londoners seem to think they have the monopoly on big free city parks. Most cities and large towns have them.
Very very true!
We even have museums and art galleries too.

Green space and lovely parks is not an issue in many places. Although there are museums and galleries outside of London, few compare to the large ones in London.
I loved some of the parks in London, but we have an amazing park near us that does not compare to any in London. There are so many free activities for kids from an amazing playground, to a short walk with musical instruments to play made of junk. But I do miss the amazing museums in London.

Where I now live, £500 a month for a three bedroom house

There's an assumption that the North is cheap but is has some very expensive areas, comparable with Greater London so cheapness isn't a given.

^This. In spades. Finally someone talking sense!

We have lived all over. What I will say is in some places rent can be almost just as much if you want to live in a nice area , partly because some cities only have a few areas you might consider, have to be honest it depends how fussy you are. We certainly found this when we looked at Manchester. A large consideration is income, we work for ourselves but if you don't wages can be far less and travel costs etc can be higher, so there is plenty to factor in. We live in Bath now which I like a lot, the very nice house we rent is around 2/3 of London rent , maybe slightly less, easy to get around, a lot of decent jobs in the Bristol and bath area , but the big thing is we don't have to commute, if you did it would be a no no, so I think you have to think about the job aspect first and foremost

Cheapness in the north isn't a given: as I said upthread if you want south eastern house prices in the north of England, you will find them. But the point is that housing is considerably cheaper on average, and you can opt out of paying £400,000 for a shithole if you want to.

As OP is considering moving out of London because of cost of living, the fact that she could if she wished live in equally expensive accommodation isn't pertinent.

Eating out here (very South West) is much cheaper than London and cocktails are half the price!

We had a Michelin Star meal the other day - £99. I’ve had similar meals in London that were easily £200 +

Houses - one bedroom flat £425. I paid £1100 in London. Two bedroom flat in gated community with a guard and lovely grounds - £150k. Two bed in London was £550k!

But the point is that there is generally a choice, everywhere. Yes housing might be more expensive in London but the point of these last posts was that the generalisation that the North is cheaper isn't always true so the automatic assumption for instance that Manchester will be cheaper simply because it's "outside London" doesn't ring true. As lots of pp have said, costs are comparable in some places, it's about doing the research properly.

Definitely about the parking though. I live by the shopping centre and parking is ridiculous £4.50 up to 2 hours

I live in a market town a few miles from the south coast. There is no free parking here, save for on a couple of estates right on the edge of town. Parking anywhere near the town centre/station is £1 for 20 minutes, so £6 ph.

My doctor's surgery is in the town centre and near the station. It costs a bloody fortune to go to the GP, especially as they're generally running at least an hour late.

Wages are a lot lower many places though. Where I live we have very low house prices. But wages are also very low.

Generally your pound goes further when you are out of the Home Counties. But when you go out of the Home Counties, the job you are doing doesn't pay as many pounds.

But the point is that there is generally a choice, everywhere. Yes housing might be more expensive in London but the point of these last posts was that the generalisation that the North is cheaper isn't always true so the automatic assumption for instance that Manchester will be cheaper simply because it's "outside London" doesn't ring true. As lots of pp have said, costs are comparable in some places, it's about doing the research properly.

Housing definitely is cheaper on average in the north of England than in London, there's no might about it. And frankly, speaking as a Mancunian, you're overestimating the importance of 'research' in respect of obtaining cheaper housing than London. Actually OP could jab at a map of the city with a safety pin and her eyes closed, and still be much more likely than not to find somewhere cheaper than the equivalent would be in London. Not that I would advise this approach, but it would likely yield a non SE priced result. The research would be more needed if she were looking to settle somewhere as expensive, prime locationy. Which she's evidently not.