Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

2 soups and 2 teas . How much ?

50 replies

WinterBerry40 · 21/12/2025 12:38

I'm not going to do the guess how much question , and I know if we were skint we could have made sandwiches to eat in the car etc , but was out yesterday doing the last of shopping and all cafes were rammed but found a place that was perhaps not at greasy spoon level but certainly not restaurant , maybe more coffee shop. Soup was £8.75 and tea ( teapot for 2 ) was £3.80 each . So £25.10.
Not a big city , ok a tourist area ( Cumbria ) but not national park just on outskirts of normal working town .
Would that be expensive for your area . Soup was tomato & Basil .

OP posts:
ZenNudist · 21/12/2025 12:40

I would have guessed £20

zipadeedodah · 21/12/2025 12:40

Was the soup home made and did it come with really nice crusty fresh home made bread?

Original poster
WinterBerry40 · 21/12/2025 12:53

zipadeedodah · 21/12/2025 12:40

Was the soup home made and did it come with really nice crusty fresh home made bread?

The soup was nice enough to be in-house made so yes , but not the bread , that was a brown ( small ) roll .

OP posts:
user1471538275 · 21/12/2025 12:54

I would find that expensive here in the Midlands. I would expect it if I was in London.

berlinbaby2025 · 21/12/2025 13:01

That’s not expensive here in the north west. The establishment will have a lot of overheads to cover.

dontmalbeconme · 21/12/2025 13:03

Seems about right to me (Surrey).

AquaForce · 21/12/2025 13:09

They charge that much because people will pay it. There's plenty of money in places like that, tourists and locals.

MarxistMags · 21/12/2025 13:10

My friend and I had a cup of soup, half a sandwich, 2 coffees and it cost £16.50.
Lovely soup and average sandwich.

TheChosenTwo · 21/12/2025 13:14

I was going to say £25, I’m in the SE, there are loads of places like that round here where soup is about a tenner.
I find soup the most dull thing to eat(drink?!) so wouldn’t spend that on soup but I would for a delicious melty cheese toastie 😋

Notmymarmosets · 21/12/2025 13:23

I would have guessed £6 each the soup and £2.50 each the tea. So £17. But I seldom eat out!
Asda do soup and a roll for £1 with refillable hot drink for the over 60s, which may be a good deal for someone.

Newlittlerescue · 21/12/2025 13:33

Had this yesterday and it was £10.75 for the soup (with grilled sourdough) and £3.60 for the tea.

curious79 · 21/12/2025 13:37

Everyone is struggling, including the small business owners covering rates, staff costs etc etc
It seems reasonable to me … just…

TheTowerAtMidnight · 21/12/2025 13:38

I would not have paid £8.75 for soup, that's ridiculous!

Was out for lunch the other day (Edinburgh), just double checked and the soup my friend had was £4.75. It was a big bowl, it came with bread and she said it was lovely.

Hadalifeonce · 21/12/2025 13:39

I paid more than that for similar only 2 days ago.

TheNightingalesStarling · 21/12/2025 13:43

Considering the labour costs of your meal is around £11 ltogether (the waitress, the chef, the cleaner,the person who orders the ingredients.. easily adds up to an hour) then the overheads like business rates, mortgage/rent, utilities, then the ingredients... it all adds up.

Cando6 · 21/12/2025 13:52

For one person to sit down for up to an hour in a warm cafe in a touristy area then yes. About £12-15 each. The actual food is probably a fraction of their costs.

caringcarer · 21/12/2025 13:57

I'm over 60 and got the Asda over 60 special £1 for either tomato or chicken soup and a bread roll plus fresh coffee. Cost £2 for DH and I to get coffee and soup then go on with Xmas shopping. I wouldn't have paid the amount you paid I'd have made do with just the pot of tea.

Bjorkdidit · 21/12/2025 19:38

Before looking at the thread I guessed anywhere from under a tenner in a supermarket cafe to about £25 at an independent in a high cost area, so spot on.

They charge what they need to charge and people can choose to pay it or not. It's a rare place that doesn't make a menu with prices on available at the time of ordering so then's your chance to vote with your feet if you don't want to pay what they're asking.

Whether I would pay it would depend on how much I wanted hot food and a sit down right then and what the alternative was.

suki1964 · 21/12/2025 20:33

I know soup as a starter here is £5.95 - with a slice of wheaten

Tea would be around £2

That's average in this area, be it pub or local greasy spoon

RuudGullitOnAShed · 22/12/2025 15:51

I had soup which came with an unexpected cheese toastie on the side and a coffee last week and it came to £12.55 which surprised me - I was expecting £8-£10
However, it was all delicious so I didn't feel hard done by.

Bitzee · 22/12/2025 15:57

I paid €22 for an onion soup this week (ski resort). So £8.95 seems alright to me!

Oldandgreyer · 22/12/2025 16:07

£27 for two large cod and two regular chips.
It fed 3 of us with a tub of chips left over.

HugglesAndSnuggles · 22/12/2025 16:09

I don’t think that’s particularly good value for money and I wouldn’t pay that for soup and tea.

ForPinkCrab · 22/12/2025 16:10

About right down here on the South coast, in fact a few cafes charge stupid prices just because they’ve given themselves a fancy name and have posh chairs and table and serve coffee . Shame , I just need a clean comfy establishment and delicious food

agathacrisps · 22/12/2025 16:13

£25 for two soups and a cuppa? Jeezo. How much was a sandwich, £50? Way too expensive