To be a bit shocked how much cheaper things are in other parts of the country

[Frozenpeace]

And to think that the price of shopping is as relevant as the price of houses etc when we are shocked by someone who is struggling to live on a particular salary

We're up visiting family in the NE. We now live in the SE. If I could, I would move north but I am separated from the children's dad and he can only do his job in a particular location and I would never move them from him. When they are grown up we may think again

I just went to fill up with petrol and bought a big bag of shopping and genuinely was astonished how cheap it was. I honestly thought they'd made a mistake at the till.

And this isn't a post to complain, and we aren't tight for money, but it strikes me that when people are incredulous at how someone is struggling on what they see as a decent income then all the living costs come into play, childcare, housing costs, petrol/commute costs.

In fact I know people who travel north to buy their cars because they say they can get them cheaper that way.

Sorry if this is a "stating the obvious" post to some but it's a while since we have made it north to visit family.

My family in Kent are always shocked by fuel prices in Somerset when they visit. Not sure food varies as I shop with Ocado.

I worked for a chain restaurant, we had different menu prices for different parts of the country based on people’s tolerance to pay.

Yes fuel is definitely substantially cheaper here but the food element of the shop was too

Oh yes I hadn't thought that it must influence eating out costs too

I guess the the cost of rent /property must also affect how much restaurants (and shops) need to charge

I think it's all relative though I live in the NE and we have generally lower salaries than down South so I have definitely noticed the cost of living increases for food shopping and petrol.

When I used to live in London - I used to live in Peckham. I actually found eating out could be cheaper there was more competition. Even on a visit recently to see friends we grabbed a falafel wrap in Camberwell and that was cheaper than getting similar in a take away here

Noticed it on some UK hoildays when at big Asda or Tesco and everything is just that bit much more so over a large shop it ends up very noticable.

Kind of expect it in somwhere like London.

Dorchester odeon cinema is cheap because there’s a local cinema competing. It’s £10 cheaper per ticket than Taunton!

My parents live in the NE and are always shocked over how much more things cost here in the South - supermarket items, cafes/restaurants/pubs, clothes, tradespeople, house prices (obvs) but rents too, and homemade items like jams and pickles outside people's houses. They say they have a wry smile when they hear people complaining about the North South divide as it appears (to them) that people up there have much more discretionary income (money after bills, etc.). Family members (there) seem to socialise frequently and buy a lot of new clothes and furniture - much more that family in the South does.

I do think that often the South in the North/South divide is actually London and the Home Counties.

Really? Supermarket food varies in price or are you saying local shops and restaurants?

I get that, although in some sectors salaries are very much the same across the country. I don't think my salary would be any different if I lived up north, looking at adverts.

But also, often someone will post and say "why am I struggling so much on £X salary" and people will be shocked they are struggling, but depending where you live in the country that same salary will provide a very different lifestyle

Supermarkets too

My car did my a huge favour breaking down near Bradford because the repair cost at least a third less than if it had waited til I got back to London!

Do you have a Costco near you? That is cheap fuel.

Not sure this is the latest dataset but interesting nonetheless for a snapshot of average salaries per region. £6k difference between North East and South East
https://www.statista.com/statistics/416139/full-time-annual-salary-in-the-uk-by-region/

Interesting, because we have friends in the NE and whenever they come to stay with us they can't believe how cheap things are here! Meals out in pubs and restaurants always get commentson how much more they'd pay in the NE and we have a petrol station that I'm pretty sure must be one of the cheapest in the country. We're in the W. Midlands.

Our salaries are alot lower here thank lots of other places. 8 years ago I almost transferred internally to a job and I would have been based just outside Essex. My salary at home was 37k and if I'd moved it was going to be 46k. Exact same job.
I think we pay the highest water rates too 🤣🤣

I think minimum wage is the same all across the country as well

Exactly. I volunteer for a charity that supports people on minimum wage there's no adjustments to benefits (outside of housing costs)

This isn't a competition as to who has it worse etc , just an observation that living costs actually can vary hugely

Going off on a tangent, I always use petrolprices.com to find cheapest local fuel.

www.petrolprices.com/

It's complex with supermarkets apparently.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43979167

It's sort of national pricing but also local varaitions based on local competition levels and then size of store so smaller stores more like corner shops charge more.

However we've done a shop week or so before going on hoilday at big local supermarket and then done one at big local supermarket near hoilday let and we've found we paid much more.

That isn't the reason for different prices. So local businesses can fairly compete the competition commission insist (I believe its actually legal) that every individual premises (including large chains) have to be profitable. This stops big chains cutting prices in areas where rent and businesses rates are expensive so independent local businesses can compete on an even level. Makes total sense but it does mean a loaf of bread in Tesco London can be a different price to Tesco Newcastle for example.

Absolutely this, I moved from London to theoretically one of the cheapest parts of the country and our standard of living is SO much higher it's absolutely insane. Also, we have bigger houses and easy to pop in the car, so much, much easier to grab a £10 bottle of wine and head for a friend's sofa, or to have friends' family over for dinner.

Work for public sector so bar London weighting which doesn't go far, so much better off.

In a similar vein, I've just moved from Haringey in North London to Frome in Somerset. Haringey has a high Turkish population, and around Green Lanes in particular there are loads of lovely affordable Turkish restaurants. Frome is less diverse! A nice looking Turkish restaurant has recently opened but as its only competition are a couple of greasy doner places, it's expensive (to me!) About £10 dearer for each main course.

It’s cheaper but it’s boring and most places are a shithole. I live in one. I lived down south for 7 years and I miss it.

It's beautiful where we are @Boredlass , definitely not a shit hole