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?

There's something wrong there.

My late DH & I used to get the train to London, go to a theatre matineé , & have a meal (cheapie Chinese, Vietnamese, etc) & it was c.£100.

This was 30 years ago, so for a similar day out today it seems remarkably cheap.

Which is going to be reflected in the price of a burger in a pub/restaurant...

I get it, it's classed as a treat now to have a tea and cake. Rather than 'every week this is what we do' kind of thing.
Its sad that the simplest of things are unaffordable for lots of people now.
To be fair, most of our customer base are pensioners who meet up with friends and it's their 'must do'.

Stopped off at a cafe for lunch -when meeting friends to walk the dogs and I'd not packed my usual picnic - and it was £9.90 for an egg sandwich and a slice (decent enough size) of carrot cake. Thankfully I had made a flask of tea! It was busy (country park type place) so enough people are paying those prices. Crazy to me though.

It depends where you are going. I'll spend a colossal amount of money for a decent night out but not just the cinema.

I have Vodafone so every week you get two tickets for £8 at the odeon.

Coffee x 2 = 7.60. Cake x 2 = £8. So £16.

Loads of budget left for dinner to bring in under £100

You can’t get two coffees for that here. I was charged 4.95 for a scone without butter/cream and jam the other day, £4.50 for a coffee. Neither were that good.

I think prices have gone up a lot. However I do think big companies have upped their discounts through apps so I feel like a mug paying full price.

odeon tickets are 2 for £8 from my mobile rewards club for example

The worrying thing is I'm working full time on a reasonable salary but am a single mum with a ds who will be going to university next year.

I'll be relying on a wood burner and home dried/stacked wood for most of our heat this winter.

How on earth are those with lower incomes going to manage? 🙁

What pisses me off the most is no-one protesting/campaigning about this huge col crises. Im thinking of the most vulnerable in our society. People in this country are too busy getting upset about other countries/oil and such while our own citizens silently suffer.
Anyone care?

Yep, I’ve been out of the country for a year. When I returned in June I was shocked every time I opened a menu or went to the shops. Things have become extremely expensive in Britain.

Im going back to university in October and whereas when I went the first time, circa 2013-17, I would still buy coffee or lunch when out etc now I will be taking a coffee flask and a pack up lol.

This.

Weve stopped eating out as it’s pretty much always awful and we can cook better at home. Plus we love our house and spending time in it!

It’s definitely out of control. I don’t know how I’d manage if I was still on NMW, but it’s not like I make loads above it neither.

I’m a single parent, I used to be able to do one, two day trips or even weekend out per year + a takeaway once a month for me and DD. If needed I could take an unpaid day off sick too.

I can’t do any of these anymore, I would definitely feel the difference in my wage by the end of the month. I don’t smoke or drink, it’s not like I have an expensive lifestyle or anything. Everything is just… expensive.

Definitely agree with the levelling up of restaurants we went to Millar and carter last Friday 2 mains and starts on their lunch deal very nice meals and decent portions £38. Went to Toby carvery two mains £25 (including blue light) the cheap and cheerful tier has gone imo.

Coffee, cake, dinner and cinema for £100? I don’t get out much but I don’t think that sounds a lot!

Nescafe jar used to be £4 a few years ago

I have seen it at £10 a jar !

Went to cinema on cinema day all films were £4 each recently

Mr Whippy icecreams used to be £1 each, now £2.50 or £3+ each

It is so expensive. I was in a cafe the other week that wanted £8.50 for a sandwich, I decided to go elsewhere and I did find cheaper. But I find you have to be really careful about what you buy and where you shop.

Yes, prices for leisure and enjoyment spending have hiked! Almost £7 a pint, £9 for a glass of wine recently at a local pub.

Just the other day I bought an ordinary sized reel of ordinary sewing thread in John Lewis.
Five quid!! I nearly had a fit!

Yanbu

I bought two mushy peas, a kids chips and fish, a chips, a fish cake and a small sausage at the weekend on an incredibly rare day out and it cost £20 - I won’t be going back. Back to picnics.

The problem is I can't stand the taste of the other beans- we cut corners in other places. It's £4 for a pack of 6 Heinz beans cans at Iceland which isn't so bad.

£10.50 they wanted for a cheese and beans jacket potato at an English heritage castle last week 😅 add that to the £15 I paid for entry and £4 car park… I stuck to the bottle of water I brought and bought a Kit Kat. I was however grateful my three year old went free and I’d had the foresight to pack enough lunch for him. I thought it wouldn’t be too expensive for me to grab a quick lunch but oh my goodness. Such a cheap thing to make as well.

Thanks for saying that. I've recently retrained and am now chartered in a profession. It's frustrating I'm still not hugely out earning minimum wage. Then my dad will make comments about our recently bought forever home, that surely we'll be moving on to a bigger one in the future. No we won't because this is what 1.5 professional salaries buys these days.

I posted this on a similar thread, my sister and I took my two kids out for lunch on a day out. Small, very good independent restaurant. We had four main courses, garlic bread, four desserts, two soft drinks and two glasses of wine and the total bill was £72. There are still affordable places out there but we need to move away from the chain restaurants that offer reheated frozen shit for £20 a plate. There’s a lot of room between chain crap and overpriced twee coffee shops, and good, independent places offering good value for money.

things are shockingly expensive now. I’m late 30s so it’s hardly a case of “in my day I could get a bun and a cup of tea for ha’penny”.

A small pack of minced beef - 250g was a fiver in the asda this week. It was 2.50 a couple of years ago. I don’t want to wrangle over the rights and and wrongs and ethics of how much meat costs, and yes absolutely farmers need to live, and yes feed and heat have gone up- but as a consumer whose wages haven’t kept pace, but has rent, utilities, clothes, hair cuts etc which are also soaring- it is absolutely crippling.