Why is Everything So Damn Expensive in the UK?

fishmongerfunk

i have been living here for over a year and the place is cool but the price of shit never ceases to amaze me. why is shit so cottdamn expensive here?examples:-a 6inch tuna sub at subway is like $8-a 1/4 of bullsheet weed is about $100-120 (with massive run-arounds and hassles)-rinked stevie wonder albums are $18, no cti album sells for less than 15 bucks

el_sparko

i have been living here for over a year and the place is cool but the price of shit never ceases to amaze me. why is shit so cottdamn expensive here?

examples:
-a 6inch tuna sub at subway is like $8
-a 1/4 of bullsheet weed is about $100-120 (with massive run-arounds and hassles)
-rinked stevie wonder albums are $18, no cti album sells for less than 15 bucks

Haha, why do you think UK people buy so much from ebay?
p.s that sounds pricey for 1/4, i would expect $80-90...

Soulhawk

even the stores over there are buying US records off ebay & then doubling the prices - the dollar bins are more like $5 bins - for scratched simply red 45s & similar shite.

SoulOnIce

examples:
-a 6inch tuna sub at subway is like $8
-a 1/4 of bullsheet weed is about $100-120 (with massive run-arounds and hassles)
-rinked stevie wonder albums are $18, no cti album sells for less than 15 bucks

You should not: a) be eating at Subway, b) be buying shitty weed
and c) be buying CTI albums ...

ariel_calmer

i have been living here for over a year and the place is cool but the price of shit never ceases to amaze me. why is shit so cottdamn expensive here?

examples:
-a 6inch tuna sub at subway is like $8
-a 1/4 of bullsheet weed is about $100-120 (with massive run-arounds and hassles)
-rinked stevie wonder albums are $18, no cti album sells for less than 15 bucks

With the exception of the weed, this could be LA.

fishmongerfunk

You should not: a) be eating at Subway, b) be buying shitty weed
and c) be buying CTI albums ...

i wouldn;t touch any of that stuff with a ten foot pole. i gave those examples becasue they are common ass things that we can all relate to and have a basis for comparison.

street_muzik

The dollar is shit right now. 1 dollar = .99 Canadian.

Needless to say most of my ebay business has been from Europe lately. More pound per pound.

pencilface

its the bain of my life ---- the high prices of records, that is, not weed or subway... i dont care about that!! ---- seeing the prices you guys on soulstrut claim you paid for all the heatrocks makes me green with envy!! oh well...

djsheep

I like earning pound and using it overseas. However, living in the UK is just bullshit... I buy groceries weekly, so I manage just fine... about 250 pounds on rent, 30 pounds a week on food and gas/electric/phone... it's not so bad...

But yes, record stores not only suck, but they are expensive... and quality of food is doo doo on a stick.

peace.

Jimster

Food quality depends on where you eat. As in every country I've been to, I've had magnificent food and dreadful food here. Pizza Express American Hot w. extra Jalapenos and spicy beef is the truth though.

There is that underground mall in Edingburgh that do/did haggisburgers. Don't sleap.

soulcitizen

the main reason is 2 dollars to the pound fella.

subway is an american import, not british. try eating somewhere that sells local food, and buy your food from the local market, it's cheap and better than supermarkets.

as far as weed and records, are you in london or a.n.other major city by chance?

fishmongerfunk

for the last time, i used subway as an example of a franchise that is pretty much universal. i do not eat there, i think its fucking sick, but it certainly gives people a reference point. it has nothing to do with the fact that it is an american company, i could have used any franchise. the point is that restaurant food all across the board is exorbitantly expensive and not too tasty. i am currently living in leicester and most the food on offer is complete crap: fried chicken, processed burgers, and something called doner meat. i have asked a few people what doner is and nobody has a solid answer. its this slimy brown shit.`bar food is not my thing either. sheep was right about the food. we have a great farmer's market here and i go there on the regular. i will say that i have some decent indian food in the uk.

we have a few record shops in town (notably psych specialists "ultima thule") and if there is ever anything of any interest anywhere it is going for at least twice the high end us price. i think the only time i really came up was when i dug up some mid-period ian carr record for about 8 bucks (and thats nothing to write home about- that record is really only worth 20 at most). i used to come up big regularly enough when i was based in north america. periodically, i go to london were the selection is sometimes ok at a couple spots i hit (notably record exchanges at camden and nottingham) but again prices are just through the roof for the most part. its always cheaper to just buy it on ebay and thats real annoying.

also, charity shop breaks blow.

soulcitizen

i am currently living in leicester and

whoa! time out, explains all

fishmongerfunk

whoa! time out, explains all

yeah dude, but i been all over the uk. whatever else you may say, record stores and diggin in general flat out sucks in this country. i wish it weren;t that way, believe me.

SoulOnIce

UK food being gross (if you're not from the UK) is
certainly not a news flash. Nobody warned you before
you went to England that the food would be gross??

kicks79

You paying 250 pounds a week hommie? Jeez...I knew it was expensive but???

fishmongerfunk

Nobody warned you before
you went to England that the food would be gross??

they did and i heard the cliche but i didn;t belive it until i got here. there is no earthly reason i can discern for why it is as bad and overpriced as it is. after having lived in foodie paradises like montreal and vancouver it was a real rude awakening.

el_sparko

I don't understand the food thing... you say how bad it is then talk about kebabs and burgers as an example. People eat that stuff when they're drunk on the way home from a night out, not usually due to a craving for culinary excellence. There is everything from the shittiest kebab vans to some of the finest restaurants in the world in the UK so it's a bit wide of the mark to label them all the same, i can think of loads of great places in London and in my city (Bristol) alone...

SoulOnIce

I don't understand the food thing...

Well, with all respect to my UK brothers, it is pretty
much a global opinion that food in Great Britain is fairly
inedible to anyone not born there ... I mean, I'm sure
there are many fine establishments and you can find good meals
if you want, but the British diet is very um ... unique ...

el_sparko

I don't understand the food thing...

Well, with all respect to my UK brothers, it is pretty
much a global opinion that food in Great Britain is fairly
inedible to anyone not born there ... I mean, I'm sure
there are many fine establishments and you can find good meals
if you want, but the British diet is very um ... unique ...

Cool, i know the rep it has, i've just never had the chance to ask people to be more specific before though, what would you consider the British diet to be?
Because i see all kinds of places full of people, Italian restaurants, Mexican, Japanese, Indian, and loads of friends cooking that kind of thing when they're at home too...

Rockadelic

I don't understand the food thing...

Well, with all respect to my UK brothers, it is pretty
much a global opinion that food in Great Britain is fairly
inedible to anyone not born there ... I mean, I'm sure
there are many fine establishments and you can find good meals
if you want, but the British diet is very um ... unique ...

This is why there are no English Food Restaurant chains in the U.S.


And Americans will eat damn near anything.

street_muzik

Try living in Los Angeles.

djsheep

You paying 250 pounds a week hommie? Jeez...I knew it was expensive but???

Rents actually 500 pounds a month, I pay half - 250 pounds a month, sorry my bad... typo.. Still kinda expensive for not living right downtown (10 minutes away tho)...

peace.

djsheep

I don't understand the food thing...

Well, with all respect to my UK brothers, it is pretty
much a global opinion that food in Great Britain is fairly
inedible to anyone not born there ... I mean, I'm sure
there are many fine establishments and you can find good meals
if you want, but the British diet is very um ... unique ...

Cool, i know the rep it has, i've just never had the chance to ask people to be more specific before though, what would you consider the British diet to be?
Because i see all kinds of places full of people, Italian restaurants, Mexican, Japanese, Indian, and loads of friends cooking that kind of thing when they're at home too...

sparko's right... there's been a few decent restaurants here and there, but the ratio of shit ones to good ones is higher than any other major country that I've been to..

Imperial_Mao

something called doner meat. i have asked a few people what doner is and nobody has a solid answer.

Elephants leg...

It's supposed to be lamb, but in reality is an offal ice-pop...

street_muzik

You paying 250 pounds a week hommie? Jeez...I knew it was expensive but???

Rents actually 500 pounds a month, I pay half - 250 pounds a month, sorry my bad... typo.. Still kinda expensive for not living right downtown (10 minutes away tho)...

peace.

That's what I pay for a piece of shit, one bedroom, in the Fairfax district. Over $1000.

Mike_Bell

...and something called doner meat

Official DRUNK MAN FOOD.

Pundit

...and something called doner meat

Official DRUNK MAN FOOD.

bboyparkz

Quality food in the UK is stupidly expensive, I buy from farmers markets when ever I can but this an expensive option that many wouldn???t be able to afford (not sure I???ll be able to for much longer).

My wife is from Tokyo and she cant belive how expensive everything in the UK is.
Eating out in Tokyo can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be but I feel even at the cheap end you are getting quality.
Lunch times you can get killer ???lunch menu??? deals in Tokyo for about 1000Y that ??5 here a pasty and a bottle of water will cost almost that.

And as for records store the prices are crazy here, the stuff that gets labelled at $bin shit by you stateside guys is like always ??10+ here.
But there are good/cheap records to be had if you put the work in (some of the VV guys have amazing finds) but you really have to put the work in rolling up to a store and hoping to find nice records at even a reasonable price is unlikely.



I feel (and I can only use Japan as my comparison because that the only other place I???ve spent a bit of time) that in the UK we simply do not get value for money. The tabloid term ???Rip-off Britain??? springs to mind.

fishmongerfunk

indeed, rip-off england

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip-Off_Britain

zebu anyone? uk resto scams and flams
http://www.independent.co.uk/living/food_and_drink/news/article2883938.ece

Lamont

It's made of solid gold, one hump costs the donerdude 50???/70$, after the 15th kebab it's all profit.