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Original poster

To be shocked and horrified by the shit exchange rate?

256 replies

BrexitBingoGenerator · 03/08/2019 19:55

Thanks Boris.

We are in France this week- it’s cost us over 80 quid to fill the car and our food shops are extortionate. A bag of oranges was nearly £5 and it cost £50 for three of us to go to the waterpark. A Belgian family there said that they have just come back from Britain and stocked up on shoes, clothes and even Christmas presents for their family because the euro to sterling exchange rate is now so good (for them, not for us).
Everything seems so much more expensive than this time last year- is this what we are to expect now?

Living the brexit - brink dream 🙄

OP posts:
Dontsweatthelittlestuff · 04/08/2019 18:27

www.poundsterlinglive.com/bank-of-england-spot/historical-spot-exchange-rates/gbp/GBP-to-EUR-2010

Today’s exchange rate is around 1.09 euro to a pound. 9 years ago the exchange rate was 1.20 to the pound. With years of fluctuations between but it is not a vast difference between today’s and 9 years ago.

I think the main difference is that food/drink and plenty more is just more expensive than the uk.

If you travel to any Eastern European countries ie Poland, Romania, Croatia the cost of food/drink is pretty much the same as the uk but the wages are way below the uk.

RingtheBells · 04/08/2019 18:37

We are going to Iceland in a couple of weeks and I dare say it will a lot more expensive than the UK even though it is apparently one of the places to go where your pound goes further at the moment

davidbritten65 · 04/08/2019 18:42

Amazing, looking at the comments you would have thought everyone on here voted to Remain!Please support a 2nd ref and in the potential General Election in October vote for a Remain party and not Tory, Brexit or Labour (unless Corbyn mandates a 2nd ref).Also challenge family, friends and neighbours to change from leave to Remain. We are in the last chance saloon.

busyhonestchildcarer · 04/08/2019 18:43

Yes,same here.I live in France.As many have suggested here it is expensive for food and fuel.It is though a wonderful place to live and with brexit looming who knows what will happen with our residency rights.All because people believed immigrants were taking their jobs,housing,benefits.But now as the EU immigration falls those outside of the EU are still immigrating in their droves.It was naive to believe that the mess of the country was down to immigrants rather than oesterity.But its done now and there is probably going to be a huge mess left which will devastate Britain for years to come.I dont blame leave voters.All they did was believe their MPs version of what Brexit would do for them.Lies,of course but how were they to know which sides were honest or not

nuxe1984 · 04/08/2019 18:44

Yep you are no doubt right. I’m especially cross because we packed really light so that we could stuff the car with wine to add to our brexit stash - we can now no longer afford any wine, even the crappy stuff!

My DP is French and we go to visit family regularly, stocking up on wine at the same time.

Your statement isn't quite true. A "crappy" bottle of wine costs about 2/3 euros. Even with today's exchange rate of almost 1 euro to the pound that's still a hell of a lot cheaper than a bottle of wine in the UK. And when you take into account that "crappy" French wine is actually good wine then it's even better value.

time4chocolate · 04/08/2019 18:47

RingtheBells - we got back on Monday from a holiday to Iceland, if you are self-catering then I found the food in the supermarkets no more expensive than here. Eating out will be very expensive there but then it always has been which is why we went SC. It's a beautiful country.

BobbyBrewstersMagicTorch · 04/08/2019 18:50

Can't afford wine? We've just come back from France loaded up with bottles that cost 2 euros 50. Isn't that cheap enough??

keffie12 · 04/08/2019 18:50

The will, only just, of a third of the people in 2016. Approx a third voted leave, a third vote remain and a third didn't vote for whatever reason.

Our European friends who live here with the right to remain, weren't allowed to vote as weren't about 3 million expats, who still get a pension from The U.K, have a property in The U.K, still paying taxes here and so on too.

I know alot of people who voted leave who have changed their minds, but hey we are only allowed one vote and the government can do what it wants. It's only going to get worse.

It wouldn't be a leave win today, but hey the people voted so the elite can have there tax haven not realising that was the real reason they wanted Brexit.

Codisal on The Lisbon Treaty comes into place next year to stop a repeat of the banker's crash of 2008 and them moving money to abroad where it can't be touched. That's the real reason they want out.

Hey yo! We just have to suck it up and in my case keep doing my lobbying with the remain group I am involved in

ssd · 04/08/2019 18:58

Clavinova, don't know where you are getting your information, but if 56% of glasweigens turned out to vote you can be assured l lot of that 56% voted to remain.
We're not that uneducated

hamptonmummy · 04/08/2019 19:13

The exchange rate fluctuates for all kinds of reasons daily !!

awaynboilyurheid · 04/08/2019 19:15

Clavinova where are you getting those stats from ? Among my own and friends children all educated on the outskirts of Glasgow, there are several doctors, engineers and teachers, not sure about your blanket statement of poorest educated voters in the country! We all voted Remain, the educated but less intelligent Tory Mp's, and the spineless Cameron, who voted leave are to blame for the current mess.

Mammajay · 04/08/2019 19:17

Yes, I think it was 1973

Mammajay · 04/08/2019 19:19

Seem to remember 73 or 74?

KennDodd · 04/08/2019 19:31

I dont blame leave voters.

I do. How many times have we heard them saying they 'knew what they voted for'.

Sara107 · 04/08/2019 19:33

I travel quite regularly (2 or 3 times a year) to the Eurozone as my family are all there. I reckon the Brexit related sterling slide has already cost us hundreds, not to mention the increased food and fuel prices we are all paying. Yes, the cost of stocking the wine cellar in France may be a middle class problem but the cost of groceries in the shops here predominantly effects poorer people and a lot of the price rises over the last couple of years are due to the weakness of the pound.

SandraOhshair · 04/08/2019 19:34

The days of the pound being strong against European currencies went as each of those countries joined the EU and changed to euros. Nothing to do with Brexit, everything to do with the EU.

missclimpson · 04/08/2019 19:46

We have detailed records of the monthly pound euro exchange rate since we moved to France as UK pensioners in 2005.
When we moved here it was 1.56, it dipped significantly after the financial crisis in 2008, but climbed again and was over 1.30 at the beginning of 2016.
It has been consistently lower since the Brexit vote than at any other period in the last fourteen years and we have lost around 15% of our income in that time.
We can survive, others won't.
It has everything to do with Brexit.

StCharlotte · 04/08/2019 19:46

Twice I've withdrawn Euros in Europe recently and both times it's cost more in sterling e.g. €100 cost £101.

Short of exchanging a million Euro back in 99, there's not a lot anyone could do.

I think these days we just have accept that the Euro and sterling have parity and budget accordingly and to be fair, the rate has been shit for years even pre-Brexit.

Luluinkent · 04/08/2019 20:12

Where abouts in France are you? My in laws live in France and my folks in Spain. They shop in the local markets and butchers and it's so much cheaper than here. I buy all my shoes in Spain as they are so much cheaper! And we bring a boot full of wine back from France...guess it depends on location etc!

davidbritten65 · 04/08/2019 20:21

all to do with Brexit....

WhyBirdStop · 04/08/2019 20:23

Did you not check the exchange rate before your trip?

Panicmode1 · 04/08/2019 20:37

I lived in Brussels in the 90s and it was always significantly more expensive than the UK and France.

We are on day 2 of our French holiday and are reeling at just how much more things are costing us. Eg a cucumber from Ocado was 55p when I bought one at home last week. The cheapest one I could find in the supermarket yesterday was 1euro 29.....so even without the almost parity of the Euro, that is a massive leap. We reckon its 40% more expensive (food, fuel, hotel etc) than when we last came here in 2017....

I know we could holiday in the UK, but I like knowing that we will have almost guaranteed sunshine, and I want to enjoy my (probably) last holiday as a European citizen. Sad

Mylittlepea · 04/08/2019 20:42

For the best rates on purchases abroad get yourself a Halifax clarity card. Use it for every purchase you make. Consistently at least 2-3 points above the currency exchange rate.

Pay off in full as soon as you get your statement with the money you would have used to buy your currency.

And no I don't work for Halifax or Martin Lewis!

Has saved us an absolute fortune over the years.

To be shocked and horrified by the shit exchange rate?
To be shocked and horrified by the shit exchange rate?
pfrench · 04/08/2019 20:46

France is just expensive, and while the rate is shit, it's no more shit than it has been since the day after the referendum. I changed £5k into Euros back in November, and got 1.18 to the pound. We were going to France for a few months over the ski season, so needed the money, but have a couple of grand left that we've just left in Euros. We're not going away this summer, but I'm going to Estonia over the projected leave date, so it will be nice to have some cash for when the rate fluctuates like a bastard over those few days. Especially if it's no-deal chaos.

Tiggy321 · 04/08/2019 21:19

I live in Belgium and currently visiting Uk. Exchange rate is great for us and will be doing a big supermarket shop and shoes for the kids !