Is London an expensive place to live?

It is, because lots of people seem to want to live here, presumably that is partly because it is the capital and partly for other reasons.
Demand drives up rental costs, obviously this applies to retailers too hence cost of goods is also often higher.
 
i live on the outskirts of london, and yeah, its expensive even out here (ignore location, not updated it)

BUT having recently returned from Dublin - i'd say thats more expensive...
 
The main higher costs are rent and beer (although the latter can be counteracted by going to Wetherspoons/Walkabouts/the cheap-ass places dotted around)

Going-out food - there are expensive places but also a lot of competition so not hugely more expensive than the rest of the country I've found.

Supermarkets etc - same prices as everywhere else.

That said - yes it's more in price, but I suppose pay generally is higher, so is it actually 'expensive'?

I.e if it's £2 a pint but you earn £15k elsewhere but £3 a pint and earn £30k for the same job (massively oversimplified argument of course), then is London arguable 'cheaper'? :)
 
Rich_L said:
Supermarkets etc - same prices as everywhere else.
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Thats not true. I live in Reading but work in London. Anytime I pop in to a supermarket to get lunch whilst at work the prices are almost always at least 5p more expensive per item.
 
Yes, it's all supply and demand.

Lots of people want to live in London (whether it be because of jobs, entertainment or transport links) and there's not much space for them to live in.

Beer, food and general prices get hiked up because rents are high and there's usually a captive market.
 
No, not particularly.

Houses/Flats are considerably more expensive - like several orders of magnitude more expensive.

Other than that, the prices are pretty much the same. Yes you can pay high prices for drinks, but I can get a pint of NICE beer for £2 in the centre of London. You can shop at Tesco if you don't like Waitrose. You can go to clubs that charge £1 drinks if that's still your thing.

The only difference is that London caters for expensive tastes too. However, that doesn't mean you have to pay over the odds.

The transport system is generally good value for money if you've got an Oyster.

The salaries are also a lot higher. So in general, no it's not too bad.
 
Johnny Girth said:
Other than that, the prices are pretty much the same. Yes you can pay high prices for drinks, but I can get a pint of NICE beer for £2 in the centre of London.
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Where?! Anywhere but Wetherspoon's!

To be honest I think the point is it's bloody hard to find a pint of beer for under £3. There may be a few select places, but on the whole, it's not easy. I can't think of anywhere.
 
Supermarket prices in central london are more expensive definitely, but thats because they're all express or local stores who generally charge more no matter where they are, i wouldn't have thought that an outer london tesco was more expensive than one in sheffield though.

Overall it is more expensive, especially going out, movie tickets are getting silly in central london hitting about £11+ per person.
 
Lysander said:
Where?! Anywhere but Wetherspoon's!

To be honest I think the point is it's bloody hard to find a pint of beer for under £3. There may be a few select places, but on the whole, it's not easy. I can't think of anywhere.
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Sam Smith's bitter is about £1.90. Love the stuff.

If you want a premium Wheat Beer it's about £2.70 but that's also gorgeous.
 
chimaera said:
Overall it is more expensive, especially going out, movie tickets are getting silly in central london hitting about £11+ per person.
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The screens and projectors are also much better and use AAA prints compared to your local town, so some of the cost is the difference in sound and image.
 
Rich_L said:
The main higher costs are rent and beer (although the latter can be counteracted by going to Wetherspoons/Walkabouts/the cheap-ass places dotted around)

Going-out food - there are expensive places but also a lot of competition so not hugely more expensive than the rest of the country I've found.

Supermarkets etc - same prices as everywhere else.

That said - yes it's more in price, but I suppose pay generally is higher, so is it actually 'expensive'?

I.e if it's £2 a pint but you earn £15k elsewhere but £3 a pint and earn £30k for the same job (massively oversimplified argument of course), then is London arguable 'cheaper'? :)
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While pay may be higher in London I'm not sure it's actually that much higher.
I'm originally from Manchester, but have worked in London for the past 6 years so have got used to London wages.
I'm considering relocating back up there at the moment and having a look through the jobs on offer it seems the pay for something similar to what I'm doing now isn't that much different for comparable companies.
There are definitely less jobs available compared with London, but the wages are not all that dissimilar.
 
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