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 find the NE cheaper for eating out and everywhere in England is cheaper than Scotland for drinking thanks to minimum alcohol pricing north of the border 😬

Same here, my little house which I have really looked after is in a shitty area that has been all but destroyed by unscrupulous BTL landlords would be worth another £75k if it was located a mere 5 miles from where I live.

We were worried when we move here as we were moving from water rates to meter and there were five of us so expected it to cost much more - pleasant surpise to pay substantially less as turns out water company here is a non profit one.

Public transport by contrast has gone through the roof - just as with cost of living cheaper tickets have gone - so instead of a bus return being under a £5 for an adult you now have to buy two singles and it near £8 to get to same place. The polticans are head scratching about why passneger numbers have stayed low after covid - decade ago same ticket was under £3 for return.

I think we tend to notice supermarket prices changes more just as in cost of living crisis as we are buying for more people. I know our parents buying for two at most notcied it much later.

The council tax here was cheap - with fewer servcies but since we've been here it's been doing as high an increase as they can get away with and it's slowly crept up and up.

I live in London and regularly visit friends and family in Yorkshire and N Norfolk.

Prices in cafes in Yorkshire are way cheaper, and the cakes much bigger! I like to imagine a Gail’s opening in Guisely and everyone laughing at a cake you can eat in two bites selling at £4. Ditto filled rolls to take away. A chicken roll from Ham Corner in Todmorden Market and a bag of top quality veg, fish and meat from Bury market (ok, Lancs) could feed a family for a week for less than my Latte in Hoxton.

Pub prices too. This week in London I have paid £7.60 and £8.15 for pints of pale ale in a S London area and the West End. Much cheaper in W Yorks.

Norfolk: lack of big supermarkets or ‘proper ‘ markets makes food shopping expensive. I see my parents market town warbled about in MN, but you might think twice after you had find a few big family shops at the big Budgens that is their only supermarket. Extortionate compared to bargain packed London ‘hyper markets’.

However, bus prices can be sky high in both areas compared to bus fares and price capped all day travel in London, and free entertainment next to nil. Harder to pick up cheap tickets for shows, fewer free galleries and museums etc.

We are in a town in the South with extremely low wages, few jobs and v high housing costs.We were lucky to move here when property was cheap, but I can't see my kids returning after uni even if they wanted to. The town centre, which used to be beautiful, has nothing left in it but the property prices continue to rise. It's meant to be a tourist resort/uni town but now the centre has gone, the beach is the only thing it has going for it. Some people at my work on not much above minimum wage in stressful jobs are paying rent of c £800 per month for a room in a house (bills included) or a tiny studio (bills not included). I don't think supermarkets are any more expensive here than up in the North, where some of my family are from. Dinner/drinks out is generally expensive here, but has the usual cheaper Spoons type pubs too. We don't go out much due to not earning tons and mortgage going up.

@lifeonmars100 It’s the opposite way round for us. In the North and our area has really changed and is now very desirable, fast train line is the main reason. Just 30 mins further North and the housing is much cheaper. We don’t need a fast train line anymore, DH had to make a few trips to London every year and I had the occasional meeting. He also needed to go overseas and we are close to a regional airport, those meetings are now online since covid. I look back to him flying to mainland Europe for just a meeting and realise how ridiculous it all was really.

I left SW London after my divorce as I couldn't afford to rent as a single parent with the extortionate childcare and living costs. I moved to the north but had to take a big pay cut. I lost 28k doing the exact same role and hours. I was however able to buy a house with a big garden and DD gets to do several clubs. It's taken me 7 years and several promotions to reach the same wage as what was my junior salary in London but in the meantime, my council tax and water rates have seen insane increases (52% each) and my food shop has gone from £40 pw including alcohol to £90pw with no treats. We are stuck in our house now because house prices have skyrocketed.
I don't think it's as cheap as it once was and the wages are still comparably much lower.

I live in a small town in the NE, house prices are really low, we bought our 4 bed detached in a nice estate for £170k three years ago. We can afford a fairly nice lifestyle. I dread to think what we'd have paid for this house down south.

For more or less the same drinks? I'm in the NE and semi regularly in London, but don't really drink much when I'm out so not vastly knowledgeable re prices. Most recently met a friend for a quick drink in central London and his pint was roughly a tenner whereas a pint here is about £5, so double. Maybe wine is marked up more in London, but that's a hell of a difference!

The wages v house prices in different parts of the country, doesn't always even out though. London averages are possibly skewed by high salaries in eg financial sector or magical circle law, but there are thousands of people working in retail, hospitality, cleaners, transport etc and public sector jobs with set pay scales who will be earning barely more (if any) than if they lived elsewhere.

Yes. I've lived in both rural NE of England/ rural Scotland as well as London.

Prices for 'cheaper' food from cafes / markets etc are higher rurally.
FAR less competition plus tourists are willing to pay for 'treats' in Cafes.
Other things too eg I also know a local posh caravan site with a health club (tiny pool, jacuzzi and a few stationery bikes etc) offering a 'discounted local membership' that's more than, one in a chain gym with pool in Mayfair. Crazy.

Housing is cheaper BUT Wages are WAY lower plus far fewer employment opportunities (basically tourism, farming, services like Care or retail).
Council Tax can be very high too. A house worth, say, £250K will pay more than a house in Lambeth worth £1.25m. Travel is very expensive too.

I know that there can be a big difference in petrol prices even a 10 minute drive away. I've been travelling around various places in Scotland for work the past week. Filled up at a tesco petrol station in Perth - unleaded 126.9p a litre. Drove through Blairgowire 30 mins later and saw the price that the Tesco there was selling unleaded at - 134.9p a litre I think it was. I guess it also depends how many petrol stations are nearby; if they have the monopoly in that area then they'll bump the price up.

That's not regional. Big 'Extra' stores are always cheaper than local 'Express' stores, regardless of where you are.

Same, my job earns the same no matter where I work and DH works for an international company mostly from home so earns the same as he did when he lived down south. I’ve always lived in the NE but DH lived down south for many years and he’s loved being back up north. Bigger house, more disposable income etc. he also loves the Northumberland coast and Lake District so is glad he’s back near those areas again.

It's nothing to do with north or south. It's more whether you are somewhere working class or MC. Or "naice" or not so nice.

I live in a posh area in the NW and will drive half an hour to somewhere "less desirable" (sorry, not sure how to word it) to get a cheaper MOT, dog grooming, hairdressers etc. I tend to fit in a visit to my dm whilst I'm there! I could eat very cheaply in my dm's town if I wanted to or visit cheap supermarkets.

You pay a premium depending on where you live - surely everyone knows that? When I ring for a quote for something I will tell them I live in xxxx rather than xxxx bc I know the price will double if I'm honest.

Many affluent places in the north are much more expensive than poorer places in the south.

And yet in Surrey, one of the most expensive places to live in the UK, Odeon cinemas are £5/ticket on weeknights

The bigger store was dearer. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

I live in a working class town but close to the lake District. I notice prices when we visit the lakes are slightly higher than our town. Even in Kendal it is a little bit more expensive.

I'm currently paying 140p for fuel in the North. Odeon is £16

Yes, our Vue has some cheaper seats closer to screen but £8.50 sounds ok (I don’t mind them to be cheaper of course) The other poster said £15 per adult ticket however in Dorchester £5 and I was absolutely astonished that such a difference might exist.

I’m up North and yes, houses prices are lower but salaries are much lower. And Tesco, Aldi and Sainsbury’s etc have the same prices everywhere. I suspect it applies to Primark, Boots, Next, Superdrug.
And surely coffee at Nero cost the same over the country as well ?
Im sure there are differences in costs but there are difference in salaries.

Thank you Buttons for sharing the stats, very interesting.

Completely agree.
There was another thread and a report that showed even after housing and living cost adjustments QoL was better in the South generally, than in the NE.
I've spent time in both and in the NE people are really into on spending on disposable stuff like alcohol, takeaways/ eating out/ clothes etc in a way that no one here in my part of the South is.
Life expectancy varies from 8- 14 years less for a man in the NE than the general population of England.
Wages are lower, opportunities less, investment less.
That's what the N/S divide means , not whether petrol is cheaper 🙈

I wont mention the weather 😅

When I 1st took my boyfriend up north, now my husband, to meet the family he remarked straight away about how much more disposable income people had!

And my nephews and nieces have all bought 3 bedroom houses as their 1st and sometimes forever home! No property ladder there!!

They need the postcode to identify the store that they be delivering from, and therefore availability, not pricing. The main retailers basically operate a national pricing model, with regional promotional differences at time. The Waitrose/Sansbury’s/Tesco local stores do have higher pricing from some/many things, but again they are consistent across all stores of that format.