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.

I think a lot depends on local competition rather than structured pricing policies.
You can't really compare one place in the NE (the place you did your shopping) to another in the SE (where you live) and conclude it's much cheaper in the NE.
I recently made a long journey from a small NE market town to the South Coast by car, and I paid more for petrol in my NE town than I did at any point on the journey there and back.
I regularly order a Tesco,com delivery for my ILs in the SE and I can't say I notice a difference overall - some items are marginally more expensive but others are slightly cheaper so the end bill is roughly the same

Boring? How so? What activities so filled your day 'down south' that are completely absent in the whole of the North? And how much of your life did you spend doing them that the apparant complete inability to access them leaves you bored? Because most people tend to spend most of their lives doing their jobs, their responsibilities and in their homes. A comparatively small percentage of time is spent on activities. Most people live within reach of a place where most activities that most people use to stave off boredom can be found. Curious as to what niche thing you need on a daily basis to stop you being bored that's in the large and varied area called The South, but not in the large and varied area called The North.

Agreed. Used to live in Camberwell and I really miss cheap food. In London you can get a great meal out for £7. Outside of London I now pay £20 minimum so don’t eat out much. Plus most bills are cheaper in London I’ve found. And public transport.

I live on the border of two counties, one more rural that the other. The more rural one I have noticed chains like Costa, cineworld to be cheaper. Interesting what you say about food, fuel I intend to move somewhere cheaper to buy a home in a few years as we also live in the south east.

Isn’t the West Midlands one of the poorest parts of the UK?

@Latenightreader
I'm missing the point I know, but has the cheese stall on Cambridge Market gone then? I've not lived there for so long but remember it being so popular.

@Whiteskylark I'm sure the W.Midlands will contain some very deprived areas bit I'm not sure that it's fair to say that the majority of it is any more deprived than anywhere else. I certainly wouldn't describe the county I live in as "deprived".

I'm in Cornwall and costs definitely vary according to competition more than county. In a pretty coastal town costs are astronomical yet if I was to drive to Cambourne, Redruth which is some of the poorest areas in Europe, food and services is far cheaper but of less variety.

In a tiny Sainsbury's in Devon I paid £1.31 for petrol. Here in the south-east it's £1.35!

Heating costs must be cheaper in the South, £117 a year cheaper on average apparently. More affluent areas also benefit from easier access to services, patients in the most deprived areas are twice as likely to wait over a year for NHS treatment, "If we look over the past seven years, practices in richer areas have gained on average about one day a week of additional GP time," says Dr John Ford, clinical lecturer in public health at the University of Cambridge."

"Whereas practices in poorer areas have actually lost about a day and a half of GP time per week."

When you include access to libraries, leisure centres, good schooling, jobs etc, you're almost certainly getting more for your money.

On my NE town it was £1,43 on Monday.

Eek! Both mine were in Sainsbury's.

Mine was Tesco.

£1.28 in Hastings/ Bexhill today 😁

Where I live (surrey) fuel is 9p cheaper at any of the big supermarkets than it is in any of the chain petrol stations. I also shop anywhere I happen to be close to - ASDA, sainsburys, tescos, Lidl are all on my way most days - certain things are cheaper in each of them, with none being cheaper across the board other than LIDL really.

Things are more expensive down south because property is more expensive- so the rent for the shop or the nursery or the hairdressers is way more

property is often one of the largest costs - sometimes more than staff costs - for many businesses

We don’t live in London but it’s cheaper than where we do live for a lot of things. Public transport for teens for one! Zip/Oyster makes it a bargain compared with our £2/3 a journey bus fares (quite rural). Similarly, our nearest city is ridiculous for coffees out. Easily £5 these days for a latte. Cakes a similar price. London was more the £3.50 mark, presumably due to more competition. As others have said, London can also be great for eating out and very competitively priced. We have an overpriced (and not very tasty) Indian restaurant, which is dreadful compared with the likes of Brick Lane or the Curry Mile in Manchester.

I agree. We live on the coast near Newcastle and it’s pretty nice. My parents are in a village in County Durham and it’s also very pleasant. Newcastle has pretty good facilities and Northumberland/County Durham loads of lovely countryside. There are plenty of grotty places too but that’s pretty universal. We know lots of people who moved up here from London and work location free. They are pretty much all agreed that while they miss the breadth of cultural events & dining opportunities in London everything else is better up here.

I live in a seaside town in the South West and it's really noticeable that prices change (increase!) for the holiday season. Our big Tesco is always more expensive for fuel than if you drive 5 miles inland, for example, but in the winter the prices are the same.

Fuel irritates me so much, it’ll be about 5p a litre cheaper in the next town over which is less than 15 mins away!

We have driven north for a car that was £2000 cheaper than the average prices where we are for similar spec.

In reverse though, I tend to find it’s cheaper to fly from the south.

I also wouldn’t describe it as the south

I visited my DD recently in Surrey, the fuel was cheaper there than it is in this corner of Somerset.

It is housing that will save you most. We visited our girls in Lancaster and their cousin in Barrow. You can buy houses 2/3 bedroomed for£100.000 of a bit of work needed. What were really noticed was all the expensive cars. Apparently housing so cheap and salaries not so bad in Barrow with BAE systems that employ loads of locals, so everyone buys top model cars with their sister cash. Rows of terraced houses with BMWs, Audi's, Land rovers, Lambo's etc

@Macaroni46 Where did I describe the W Midlands as the South?
My original post was comparing prices in WMidlands to the NE, (the latter having being compared, by the original poster, to prices in the South).
My 2nd comment was to another poster who saying that the W Mids (where I live) is one of the most deprived areas of the country. I was disputing that as a generalisation - The W Midlands, like many other regions, is very varied.

It's perfectly reasonable to bring the midlands into the conversation. I was talking about cost of living variation and gave where we are staying at the minute Vs where we live as an example,. Others have rightly mentioned London and it's surrounds being even more expensive too