All this talk of impending recession....I live in a very tourist orientated area, appreciate its holiday season, but see no signs of belt tightening.
On a personal level I eat out with friends very rarely...went out with them last Sunday which is a once in every 3 months kinda thing, and paid £14.95 for a plateful of decent grub in my local pub. Previously the same dish was £11.95 a year ago. And I don’t visit restaurants. I think expensive food is over rated and I simply don’t appreciate it.
Every table was booked out that evening for diners...reserved signs everywhere and no walk ins possible.
Friends decided to eat out in Skipton yesterday....a Tuesday evening, and couldn’t get a table in any of their 4 favourite dining spots so caught the train home and went for a curry.
I take my old mum out for lunch once a week to a local place...£28 always covers both our two courses and a pot of tea. £14 each, so decent value and no need to eat for the rest of the day. Off spring of friends think nothing of splashing out £28 on a bottle of House Wine. I’d have a dicky fit. Seems to accentuate the difference between the haves and have nots.
OTOH I’ve just spent £120 on a new pair of top quality trekking poles ( buy cheap, buy thrice) which should last me at least 15 years, like my old pair have.
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We bought four trekking poles from Mountain Warehouse sale seven years ago, for a total cost for all four of about £20.
So far we've walked perhaps a thousand miles or more with them, including the coast to coast, Cotswold way, round the Isle of Wight, Devon coast path, St Cuthbert's way, Great Glen way and inumerable day walks.
No sign of them giving up yet, though we are beginning to notice the hills a lot more.
Sorry, that wasn't about dining out, was it.
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Trekking poles, top quality down sleeping bags ( 2 of) and ultra light shelters (2 of) are my Achilles heel when it comes to outdoor gear.
Check out the Black Diamond Alpine FLZ poles at Rock & Run. A pair of beauties.
Spending money on dining out is in the relegation zone.
Back to dining...interesting to see how busy the establishments are once the schools go back.
Hopefully we’ll get a table to sit around and drink beer. Dinner is poured .
Last edited by: legacylad on Wed 24 Aug 22 at 19:45
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>>
>> OTOH I’ve just spent £120 on a new pair of top quality trekking poles (
>> buy cheap, buy thrice) which should last me at least 15 years, like my old
>> pair have.
>>
....they'll see the new hip out, then ;-)
I've had it reported to me that takings in the better food establishments in the village have fallen around 25% in the last month or so.
I live close to a major outdoor attraction, which has money-making events every year in the School Holidays. They've changed the format this year, so it's difficult to compare like-for-like, but footfall seems well down on previous occasions.
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People have probably budgeted for this year, you'll probably see a difference next summer LL.
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>> People have probably budgeted for this year, you'll probably see a difference next summer LL.
>>
Yep, Sooty has it. Also there are loads of people here who can and will continue to afford it, it's a reasonably wealthy area. But those who can't, you simply won't see.
Sort of related, I have just started volunteer work with one of the foodbanks in the same wealthy area and they are becoming overwhelmed with "customers" - from a wide range of backgrounds and employment status, as well as unemployed - and also the drop off bins at some of the supermarkets have less in them so much so that pickup frequency is being cut.
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and also the drop
>> off bins at some of the supermarkets have less in them so much so that
>> pickup frequency is being cut.
>>
I've noticed that as well, lots of the bins in supermarkets look much emptier than 6-12 months ago.
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>>Pickup bins
Many years ago a major supermarket was caught clearing out the charity donation bins and putting the stock back on the shelves!!!
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The whole organisation or just one branch?
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>> The whole organisation or just one branch?
>>
I can't recall, it was in the national press at the time and they made a sizable charity donation to make up for it. I recall reading it in print so it must have been well over 15 years ago.
In other news... re dining out. I went to a chain restaurant on Sunday when a huge tourist event was in town (tens of thousands of visitors) and the restaurant and nearby pubs were very quiet.
I went to a different chain restaurant on the first Saturday of the August and it was about one quarter full.
Re inflation, A colleague mentioned an online post on a forum she uses where someone found a receipt from a German supermarket over here. Last year the receipt for 5 or so items was about £5 and now the same items were about £7. The inflation rate was about 40%. The items were staples and was an example of how inflation can sometimes disproportionately impact those that can least afford it.
Last edited by: zippy on Thu 25 Aug 22 at 00:07
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>> The items were staples and was an example of how
>> inflation can sometimes disproportionately impact those that can least afford it.
The reality is that that's gone on for the last 20years or so. Maybe not so dramatic but RPI/CPI have been influenced downwards by static or falling prices for white goods and clothing while staples, which are a larger proportion of spend for the poor then the averagely/better remunerated, increase considerably more.
It would be interesting to look at a package of basic foodstuffs, clothing etc plus other costs of a basic life and see how they measure against the £334.91/month a single adult on Universal Credit has to keep body and sould warm/together for a month.
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It would be interesting to look at a package of basic foodstuffs, clothing etc plus
>> other costs of a basic life and see how they measure against the £334.91/month a
>> single adult on Universal Credit has to keep body and sould warm/together for a month.
>>
>>
I wonder if the ONS do something like that already?
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For most people energy price and inflation haven’t really affected them yet. I think the come next February peoples’ reactions will be rather different.
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Questions rather than answers:
Do those who often eat out and (and can afford it) need to change behaviours. Covid polarised the community - those who worked from home and saved money (no holidays, meals out etc) vs those on furlough, self employed and reduced income who found it difficult.
To what extent to people behave the same in a recession but shop down - eg: Michelin ** go to premium gastropubs, gastropub folk go to pub grub establishments, they go to M etc.
I personally find prices charged for the mundane a bit of a shock compared to pre-pandemic, but in all honesty have not greatly changed behaviours.
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I think there has been minor cutting back here. Much worse to come beyond many folks wildest nightmares.
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>> I think there has been minor cutting back here. Much worse to come beyond many
>> folks wildest nightmares.
It feels as if we will never get straight up. Many have never got back to where they were before the financial crisis and now we are facing the consequences of Brexit (more accurately the mess that has been made of Brexit), Covid and a war in Europe crystallising an energy crisis that was waiting to happen. At 69 I don't feel I will live long enough to come out the other side, assuming there is another side.
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Just went online and repeated our usual (but fairly infrequent!) order at the local Chinese for home delivery and it's gone up from £45 to £61. Last time ordered was a year ago.
That's quite some dining-in inflation, a little over 30%!!
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90 year old sister went out for fish & chips + a glass of naranja juice, cost 'im (her son!) £50 :(
They are going to the Mermaid chippy in Rock-a-Nore today, which I used to visit twice a week in a previous life.
It will be interesting to hear back how much he coughed up down there.
Gets about does my old sister - lives in the ham of Lewis :)
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 25 Aug 22 at 19:52
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>>Naranja juice...
Sorry Dog, it's just got to be a mug of builders' tea, so strong the spoon stands on its own, with fish and chips.
Went to the Mermaid last year after a walk on the East Hill. Cost about £8 each. I think cod and chips delivered is nearer £11 now!
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>>Sorry Dog, it's just got to be a mug of builders' tea, so strong the spoon stands on its own, with fish and chips.
I'm with ewe zippo - 8 mugs per dia, mostly Ceylon. The bro (RIP) and I used to sit outside the Mermaid on Sundays and Wednesdays having our cod & chips after walking in from Pett Level or the Firehills.
Happy days, knowlmean.
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>>Went to the Mermaid last year after a walk on the East Hill. Cost about £8 each
£10 now. 90 year old sister went with her 2 daughters, 2 grandchildren and a 7 month old? g/grandchild.
Two of them are veggies, 2 don't like fish, so only my sister had the fish & chips!
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>> Just went online and repeated our usual (but fairly infrequent!) order at the local Chinese
>> for home delivery and it's gone up from £45 to £61. Last time ordered was
>> a year ago.
That’s ok for six people...friends just back from Benidorm told me their favourite Chinese all inc buffet is now €11. Up from €9 last year.
They’re ‘experts’ on Chinese food and rate it highly.
7 weeks in Spain looming and hoping that eating out at my local Nepalese twice a week hasn’t become too expensive.
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We find Chinese restaurants ridiculously cheap where my sister lives on Costa Blanca. She told me that they get a good discount on business rates for the first couple of years after opening so just change name and ownership when the discount is coming to an end.
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>>Chinese...
We had a Chinese takeaway for an anniversary a few weeks ago.
I sort of like Szechuan pork but find it a bit fierce.
I said to the owner, that I liked it, but found it too spicy.
She replied, "You don't like it then do you!?"
Well the inscrutable Chinese lady cut to the chase I suppose and kindly cooked me a slightly milder version.
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The same story a few hours later:
www.aberdeenlive.news/news/aberdeen-news/aberdeen-takeaway-boss-vows-fight-7442915
Energy bills now cut by two thirds.
Why let reality and high journalistic standards stand in he way of a good story - far better to create a drama out of a crisis!
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Yesterday, as is our tradition, we had afternoon tea (the full blown multi tiered cake stand variety)
on my birthday, in a good location. This has ranged as far as Rieds in Madeira*, Raffles, The Savoy, The Ritz, The Portman, Some other quirky hotels that had character.
Yesterday was - The Midland Hotel Morecambe. A building of 1930s "stream lined moderne art deco" design with a spectacular dining room vista of Morecambe bay. A good effort with tea that ranks well with the others.
The rest of Morecambe? Jeez what a strange place. The sea/estuary frontage is a complete sh**hole, with what were obviously in their tine expensive large estates of large some stylish 1930s houses.
* where we had the delightful experience where an American party were refused entrance with a "Sir, your dress is not of the required standard" comment
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 27 Sep 22 at 09:48
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>> * where we had the delightful experience where an American party were refused entrance with
>> a "Sir, your dress is not of the required standard" comment
A few years ago a friend took us for some fine dining as a thank you for some business I put his way. We went to the Ritz for a drink beforehand. It was observed that my friend was not wearing a jacket. Without fuss, they produced one for him to wear.
We used to have family holiday in Morecambe 60 or so years ago. I remember the Midland even from then. Too posh for us.
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We were away last week, rental cottage in north west Wales (Nefyn) - we ate out more often than usual. Mrs RP powers up the slow-cooker normally, but apart from a giant Lasagne she didn't bother with home cooked food. First night was in a local community pub. Passed beforehand whilst walking the dog and each night it appered to be busy (including the bank holiday) we went on the Tuesday evening and the place was buzzing with diners and drinkers, walk in diners were being turned away by 8pm, local people (judging by the language). Second trip out on the Wednesday was to a Robinson,s pub - busy with drinkers and diners. Friday evening was to a locally owned pub - it was buzzing there as well. Highly recommended if you're ever in the area - The Ship in Edern (near Nefyn). I went for a beer with a friend last night and it was very quiet in both pubs we went to. There's a gastro pub where we live, this is always busy regardless of the night of the week.
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A few years ago, my Daughter was working at a very smart Hotel and restaurant at Chipping Campden in the beautiful North Cotswolds. Two guys came to the door dressed in shorts and T shirts and asked if there was a dress code to come in. She said they were welcome to a table in the bistro bar and could order from the restaurant menu. The guys went on to order the most expensive bottle of red on the wine list and left a massive tip. So, refuse entry at your peril, you don't know what you might be missing out on!
Last edited by: Paul Robinson on Tue 27 Sep 22 at 15:56
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Dining out - Crankcase
