Am I just stuck in the past or are price increases recently out of control?

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I am late 40’s and so there is some change my idea of prices are stuck in the past but my DH had a day off yesterday and we went up to town to go to a film and then dinner at very basic but nice Greek place, we got up to town early so went to a café for a cup of tea and a bit of cake to share. By the time we got home we had spent £100. In 2019 we could have done the exact same evening out for half of that. Which does leave me feeling like the goal posts have been moved quite a bit.

Obviously, I know prices go up, that hospitality is under a lot of pressure but prior to this it took more like 20 years for prices to double and now they have doubled in the past 4 or 5 years and it shows little sign of slowing down. Same with anything you buy, a new paperback book can be £15! It feels like Tea is more expensive every week.

Like I say I know prices go up but am I crazy to feel that things have gone up excessively? Even though inflation is supposed to be falling the price of products and services never seems to fall. Or am I just getting old and stuck in the past?

I agree about holiday prices. A few years ago we looked at Mediterranean cruise that was £799. Thought we'd consider it for next year - £1600!

I bought an Oral B iO electric toothbrush and can’t get over how expensive the replacement brush heads are - £30 for 2, and it’s not like they last that long!

@Audiwannabe I'm not saying business owners should eat more of the costs or that anyone else should subsidise a luxury experience although a cup of tea in places like costa or starbucks isn't quite what I'd call a luxury experience although it is true of some independents in the nice parts of town, where spending more on occasion might be worth it for quality and a unique experience. What I am saying though is that if people balk at the cost of a cup of tea and slice of mass produced cake and stop going and if business owners have no choice but to charge the prices they do then it could be that many places are less viable than they once were when cost matched up with value and consumer expectation. It's not good for anyone I agree but its reality.

I live just outside Manchester. Our local cinema (Vue) is £7.99, £8.99, or £9.99, depending on your seat choice.

Our local cafes range from £1.95 - £3 for a tea, and £4-£6 for cake.

Our local Mediterranean restaurant charges £6-£8 for starters, and £14-£24 for mains, so a two course meal would be around £20 for the cheapest options, not including drinks or tip.

I guess you could get a reasonable cinema, cafe and dinner trip for under £85, but that's outside of the city and using cheapest options. £100 doesn’t sound unreasonable.

That might be so, but the difference now is that since the 2008 crash (and particularly the election of the Coalition government in 2010 and their implementation of ‘austerity’) is that we have experienced 17 years where things have become worse and worse for increasing numbers of people. Usually, a tough economic period is followed by a better one but not this time.

Those who were financially comfortable in 2008 may not have felt the impacts right away but after 17 years even the more privileged are now experiencing a downturn in their lifestyles.

Cost of stuff is ridiculous at the moment, especially in hospitality. I feel as if everyone is gouging to make as much now before it all comes crashing down! Going to our not- great- food pub for tea has doubled in the last 3/4 years so we don’t eat there anymore. Paying £100+ for some pub grub just isn’t worth it.

Yes, quite possibly. Lots of these business models and habits required specific economic and labour conditions that don't exist now. Artificially suppressed interest rates and a surplus of low skilled workers without better options. The businesses now don't have much choice but to give it a try with the higher prices, but yes it may not be viable in the 2020s.

But a reduction in inflation doesn't mean prices fall, and inflation is only one of the applicable causes here.

I agree. Am definitely feeling the pinch more now than in 2008.

We had Nando’s at Gatwick recently and it was bloody awful - total rip off and disgusting too

But how much was the meal, it would have to have been £75 ISH for the total spend for the day to be £100

I went to a major supermarket today. Went round going "how much"??? 😂😂 Prices are silly now

I do feel that there is much less of a gap between your lower and mid-tier cafés/other food businesses than there was previously. That is to say that the lower-priced cafés have had to have a bigger percentage increase to still try to stay open. So what used to be a cheap and cheerful pop in for a quick cuppa and cake is no longer as affordable as it was.

I would absolutely hate to be a food business owner right now because not only has EVERY PRICE RISE that has hit homes - rent/rates, utilities, insurance, water - hit them, but they also need to cover the national insurance and NMW increases, etc. However, nor do I have the money to make covering the cost of their wages a regular thing.

I have a funny quirk in that I'm happy to pay for things as a treat if they're good enough, but I begrudge paying through the nose for lesser quality. For example, I'll happily buy a small pack of something Hotel Chocolate occasionally but won't buy a bigger bar of Cadburys (I do understand the wholesale price of cocoa has soared). I'm happy to pop into a specialist chocolate shop and buy a cup of really good hot chocolate, but begrudge nigh on a fiver in Costa, etc.

As such, when we eat out (which is rarely), we tend to go to the special, independent restaurants rather than a chain. The food is actually similarly priced and much better. However, we generally eat at home and are proficient cooks/bakers. I can make the cinnamon buns/cakes, Chinese food and curries that we like, etc. We've even been known to make chocolate-covered cashew nuts caramels and the big purple ones from roses/quality streets.

Although, having said all of the above, we have a salvation army cafe near where we take my son on his bike and they're silly cheap - we paid less than £12 for a kids meal box, 2 sausages and chips and 3 drinks.

Yup, I believe this too, I've questioned myself that when covid was an issue abd prices were increased they never went back down. They assumed correctly that people had got used to paying higher prices so would continue to pay

Even the beggars in our local town are setting their own rates! I was in a queue for the ice cream van with my granddaughter this summer when I got tapped with, "Excuse me, can you spare £2 so I can have a drink?" 😂It wouldn't have surprised me if he'd have whipped out a card machine with the option to tip 10% on top!😂

People don’t have any choice when the prices are for heating, eating and washing and getting to work/school. I’m not sure anyone’s ‘used’ to it - more like were a captive audience and they continue to make record profits

Well yes you do have a choice for certain things, people may not have been happy to pay but still did.

The labour market pre and post covid is also very different. Namely, it shrunk. It costs more to pay someone to do something for you now than it did in 2019. The increases in NMW under both Tory and Labour governments and the NI increase have both contributed to this, but it's also fundamentally an issue of demographics.

The only way to deal with high prices is to vote with your wallet and not pay them.

So much in the UK is now so poor value I would rather go without.

It's shocking. I was in a cafe the other day and there was a group of 3 adults and 2 kids in front of me. They ordered a few coffees, bits of cake, a sandwich, some oat bars and it came to.... £55. I could see the man who was paying did a lurch at the final price. I was going to order myself a sandwich but was so repulsed seeing them rack up that expense I stuck with just a tea.

I feel like we're in for an economic crash within a year. If not by Christmas.

That sort of thing does seem particularly bad value. It's not usually an 'experience' unless you're somewhere very nice, not really even a meal either but still involves paying for premises and labour.

A run of the mill sandwich locally used to be £4.95 - nothing expensive like smoked salmon etc. Now it's £8.50 and £10.50 for a baked potato
Over a tenner for a bloody potato! Absolutely ridiculous.

Food prices, which affect everyone, have gone up ridiculously, even my 27yr old son remarks on it! That’s how bad it is!

Meat and anything pre-made can be expensive in France (more typically ingredients are bought and prepared at home rather than pre-made in supermarket as is common in uk). I find vegetables and cheese cheaper in France. And wine! And veg actually tastes of something.

Also, utility bills are much cheaper here, mine are half what they were in the uk, as is my council tax even for a larger property.

Childcare is cheap and university is free. Might be one of the reasons France has a debt crisis but that’s a different thread.

For balance cars are more expensive here, about 20% more.

My understanding is that prices roughly double every 10 years so I’m not surprised at all!

yes prices have doubled in some cases. Raw ingredients cost much, much more due to Brexit and Russia, closing down trade routes. Also Brexit has made it hard to find staff. A lot of our wheat came from Ukraine for instance and fuel prices have gone through the roof thanks to the war too . Then there's US tariffs and European crops failing due to climate change. The hospitality industry is collapsing as a result. It's not the fault of restaurants, it's the global economy, war and climate. It's disastrous for everybody.