When did cheap nights become so expensive.

[gothicomedy]

A trip to the cinema last night cost £9 for ticket, £5 for parking, £3 for bag of chocolate sweets and £3.50 for a cup of coffee before hand. So over £20 for a night out at the pictures for one person.

A fish and chip supper for two with a bottle of supermarket wine last saturday cost £23.

AIBU to wonder when what was traditionally a cheap treat has now become an expensive luxury?

£9 was a cheap cinema ticket. It's about £18 at our local Odeon.

As one of four a trip to the Cinema was a luxury. We only went when a "Big" Children's film was on . I guess that's why I love it . Nothing g like seeing it on that big screen. Maybe there is an independent cinema in your town OP ? much cheaper .

Also again going to the pub, when I went to the pub as a student for a cheap night it would be to wetherspoons or a pub with a student deal, I'd only drink the absolute cheapest pint and would only have max 4 drinks in the actual pub.

Going to the cinema would be on a deal or on a specific night when tickets were cheap. Takeaways again we would chose the location very carefully to find the cheapest and only chose the cheapest options

Cheap nights have always involved planning. You can't just expect to be able to go to the cinema on a Friday buy a snack and drink and it be cheap, or go to any pub and buy 4 drinks for less than £20

If you're a Vodafone customer, they have a deal with their Veryme rewards 2 for £8 at Odeon or 2 for £13 for Odeon Luxe, there's still the booking fee but it saves a few quid.
We always take our own snacks to the cinema.
Also, I noticed on the Odeon website, they have a deal until end of January for 20% off their limitless pass for a year. Could be worth it if go a couple of times a month.

You need to get on Groupon & Wowcher!!

Went to All Bar One with my sister and had a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc & 4 tapas dishes all for £25.95

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/all-bar-one-ho-2?utmcampaign=UserReferrallmih&utmsource=undefined

Cream tea for 2 earlier in the day £7.95

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/patisserie-valerie-53?utmcampaign=UserReferrallmih&utmsource=undefined

Treats are luxuries, OP.

You either go less often or give up something like the chocolates / coffee / wine.

10 cinema tickets for £40
You're welcome

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/vue-6?utmcampaign=UserReferrallmih&utmsource=undefined

Cinema where I am is £10.50 a ticket. I joined their membership scheme at £17 a month as it works out so much cheaper as I go often. I never buy snacks there as they are extortionate.

Where I used to live 6yrs ago, the local cinema was £2.50. I've just checked their website and its now £3.50 a ticket. From my understanding, a cinema pays half the ticket price to the film people (forgive my ignorance!) and keep half for the cinema. But that's info I had from about 15yrs ago working at an accountants so may be different now.

But yes! A night out is ridiculously expensive. I went for a pub meal with friends this week, a chicken salad and a glass of wine was £29. And I picked the salad because it was a cheaper option on the menu.

£9 cinema tickets are cheap imo.

With minimum wage about £11, £20 for a night out seems reasonable to me.
The people who can afford cinema prices on snacks are loaded or time poor so didn’t get them elsewhere for a fraction of the price. Was the parking at the nearest car park or are all car parks that cost or more where you live?I live in a place with variable costs so if you know the cheap places then you can save money. If you go to the cinema with someone else then obviously you can share the car parking cost.

I thought this. I had free tickets but the odeon nearest to me was £18.45 for a ticket when I went last week.

@WithIcePlease £18.45 for a cinema ticket??? *thud...

I used to love the cinema and I don't anymore, I'll wait to watch films at home.
Every time I go now there's people loudly rustling bags (I mean get your snacks out before the film starts flip sake), people putting their feet beside my head on my seat, loud munchers, talkers...and all for an increasingly extortionate price to enjoy.
And to add, I'm in Belfast and though I think our cinema prices are expensive, my English friends tell me ours are much lower than in England!

I like to go to live screenings from the RSC/Royal Opera House/West End theatres at my local arts centre. £11 for a ticket, free parking, £3.50 for a paper cup of wine. It's an absolute bargain compared with the cost of actually going to London and buying tickets for the opera or theatre.

Standard price for an Odeon at the weekend.

No wonder people aren't going as often, especially when you can have Netflix for £9 a month for the whole family!

My Odeon is £5! £18 is absolutely extortionate and not standard price

It’s £15 for our local odeon. Milton Keynes. Hardly somewhere posh.

Which decade are you talking about ?
It was considered a really big treat when I was a child (as in once in 2 years treat).

Your cinema ticket is actually quite cheap at £9. Where I am it's nearly £15 for evening shows, I reckon £20 in London.

Don't know why people have to stuff their faces when they go to the cinema. Even at home people feel the need to have popcorn, crisps and drinks when they watch a film. Just watch the film.

Surely the trat is the movie itself, doesn't sound that expensive

Cinema snacks have always been relatively expensive. In the 1990s I recall a cinema ticket being something like £3 (that was possibly with a student discount) but we always used to take our own snacks in.

It might be my working class background but 30 years ago in my parents' house wine was reserved for special occasions and it certainly wasn't something to guzzle with a fish supper. Contrast to today when we have wine with virtually every large meal.

The thing I'll agree with you on is fish and chips. In my lifetime it's gone from being one of the cheapest takeaway options to one of the most expensive.

Our local Odeon is £5 pp other than Sat nights I think

I remember smuggling our own food into the cinema as they used to check!

its £18 here for a ticket too

I’d like to know where you’re getting fish and chips plus wine for two for £23. Super cheap these days but unacceptable that we just shrug and accept it

DP wanted pizza last night. I refuse to pay £30 for pizza. The tescos reduced section got my business.

Dont get me wrong I can afford the £30 but I just think it’s daylight robbery.

We were in Cornwall over Christmas. The (chain) cinema was more expensive than my local London Odeon.

That seems really unfair on the Cornish!