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 earn a 'southern' salary but live in a northern town. Our quality of life would be gone if I had to move south or take a job with local pay rates. I don't know how people do it. It must feel like you're existing rather than living.

Wow, I hadn't even considered that prices might rise in tourism season!

Ha yes I remember living in military married quarters, cheap (and frankly usually ugly) housing with top of the range cars parked outside.

It’s how markets work. They charge what people are able and willing to pay.

That’s why housing shouldn’t be left to the market. Whenever it has been, there’s been appalling homelessness, as there is now.

It does.

It's always been this way though.

Years ago I went up to Sunderland from London, paid for a round of drinks for 4 or 5 of us in a pub and actually got change from a tenner!! I was honestly shocked!

I do think with the big supermarkets a lot of the difference is as much what ranges they have in stock as pricing for individual products.
If we call into the Morrisons in Byker, which is a fairly cheap area near Newcastle centre for a shop it’s generally cheaper than going to our local Morrisons at the coast but that’s really because more value/basics range options are sold in in Byker and more the best stuff/pricier branded items at the coast. If I buy an identical thing like supermarket milk/free range eggs/pre pack fruit/meat etc it costs the same.
Tesco express, Sainsbury’s local etc are definitely more expensive and the ones in city centres tend to fall into that branding regardless of size

Yes they do. I worked in a small supermarket in the suburbs and we had a colleague who had to travel through the city centre to work and would call in to the bigger branch to get the stuff on offer and he said they didn't have some iof the offers and a lot of the stuff was dearer.

I heard that myth so many times and so excited, ran to M&S on my visit to relatives in Glasgow - you know, wanted to take advantage of things being so much cheaper. Utter bollocks, same prices as in High Street Ken.

No, they need to know so they can check the stock in the store or warehouse they shop from and, in some cases, whether they deliver to you at all.

I went to a film at Taunton Odeon last week and it was £8.50 for one adult ticket which I would have said was probably about average. Bridgwaters new cinema is around the same price

You want to try living somewhere like Orkney, the outer Hebrides or a remote Scottish island where the only option for groceries is the Co-Op.

They are. Hence us moving from Somerset to North Yorkshire this year

I get really cross by that. I live in Oxford and the prices are always ridiculous compared to some parts of the country. Just because some people can afford to pay more, it doesn't mean that others can. We can afford it, but it still puts me off when I realise the chain restaurants think I should pay more just because I live here. This seems to have got worse in recent years, too.

As someone else has said though, it's not necessarily about (or just about) what a business thinks you should pay, but about the cost to the business of buying/renting the building. And the cost of business rates and staff too

Most of the people I see on mumsnet claiming to be skint on a high salary have mortgaged themselves upto the eyeballs and have two children in full time childcare in central London. Although I do live in the SE and earn minimum wage so it's possible I'm bitter.

That's a fair point - but it's still annoying when you consider that in many of those places, rents/house prices for customers will be a lot higher because of the area, so it feels like we're being hit at every angle!

If you are a recent buyer in chunks of the SE there's no option but to have an eye watering mortgage even for a very basic house.

The very modest house I bought as a single mum on an average salary 15 years ago would be out of reach for most couples on an average salary these days

Totally agree, that was kind of the point of my thread, that it's not just house prices that are higher,.it's lots of costs that are higher

I work in central London and live in a commuter town.
Boots is definitely more expensive in London and the Tesco is a tesco express which I expect to be more expensive.

Parking is much more expensive where I live - its not busy or touristy, than several nearby towns (eg 6-10 miles away) , although obviously not comparable with London.

When I went to visit university towns with DD a couple of years ago, parking was extortionate in Brighton, Bath and Cambridge (as expected) but more affordable in Norwich and Bournemouth

I own a 4 bed detached house I paid 130k for in 2014. Now worth 230ish in other areas even an hour away it would be double or 3x that.

But remember often wages are lower too. A quick google suggests my job would pay 10k more in more affluent areas.

Which is why there is so much objection, from those in positions of power, to working from home - you then can move to a cheaper area to live. Doing that messes with the equilibrium

Some things are cheaper where I am (East Midlands) but we have one of the highest levels of council tax in the country and our council is technically bankrupt so high costs and vastly reduced services. Property is cheaper of course but still unaffordable for very many and rents are constantly increasing.

I'd move to the coast (SW preferably) in a heartbeat, but I think it's not that much cheaper in that area either!

Westminster has the lowest council tax and the highest priced houses in the country

because the people that live there don’t need the local authority services