Let’s see:
Big mac, fries, small coke — $11
Gallon of Gasoline — $7.56
2 bedroom condo 500 square feet — $900,000 and not in a good part of town
Bottle of average white wine — $20
Bottle of single malt whisky — in the US $20 – UK $50
Cab in from the airport — about 25 miles — $100
Pub lunch — shrimp and chips – cheese fries – two wines two beers — $55
Hotel room — Hilton Average — $500 a night
Lunch — Two mediocre pizzas, four glasses of wine — $75
Dinner for two — Italian — pasta, salad, one bottle of wine, garlic bread — $85
Cable to connect iPOD to pc — just the cable, nothing else – $60
House I’m staying in – large — perhaps 20,000 square feet but needing conservatively two million dollars in repairs — 10 bedrooms, good part of town — its a row house — has been offered $70,000,000 and turned it down.
Standard Ford Taurus — nothing fancy — $40,000
Fee if your car is towed $400
Standard parking ticket – $100 if not paid in 15 days $200
Off street parking space — $800 a month
Average person’s salary — executive assistant, shop manager, etc $40,000 (top end)
Taxes average about 40%
Europe isn’t much better — Take a trip over here and get a real education. This is a wonderful city, great people, but how can they afford to live?
JVH
8 Responses
I am concern at some of the points made on how expensive it is to live in the UK, and would like to assure American readers, that things are not as bad as reported and they should not be discouraged of coming and visiting what is a truly wonderful country.
I have added the cost in brackets of what ordinary people in Britain pays for the goods and services mentioned:
Big mac, fries, small coke — $11 ($6.40)
Gallon of Gasoline — $7.56 (correct)
2 bedroom condo 500 square feet — $900,000 and not in a good part of town (from $300,000)
Bottle of average white wine — $20 (from $6 in supermarkets)
Bottle of single malt whisky — in the US $20 – UK $50 (from $20 in supermarkets)
Cab in from the airport — about 25 miles — $100 (from $60 by minicab and $6 by tube)
Pub lunch — shrimp and chips – cheese fries – two wines two beers — $55 (does it include the tip?)
Hotel room — Hilton Average — $500 a night ( the one’s I use cost from $150)
Lunch — Two mediocre pizzas, four glasses of wine — $75 (it must be a classy joint, I would pay not more than $50
Dinner for two — Italian — pasta, salad, one bottle of wine, garlic bread — $85 (te same as lunch)
Cable to connect iPOD to pc — just the cable, nothing else – $60 (my local shop would have done it for less than $20)
House I’m staying in – large — perhaps 20,000 square feet but needing conservatively two million dollars in repairs — 10 bedrooms, good part of town — its a row house — has been offered $70,000,000 and turned it down. (is good to know that Americans can not buy everything)
Standard Ford Taurus — nothing fancy — $40,000 (Ford Mondeo – new model from $28,000)
Fee if your car is towed $400 (only happens if you brake the law)
Standard parking ticket – $100 if not paid in 15 days $200 (fines are based on severity of offence and start at $60)
Off street parking space — $800 a month (my local council 10 miles from central London charges $130 a month)
Average person’s salary — executive assistant, shop manager, etc $40,000 (top end) (parking managers from $70,000 upwards.
Taxes average about 40% (40% bracket start after earnings are over $80,000 per annum)
Like in most places, Is not that difficult to find establishments and services that cost less and you can get more.
Manny Rasores de Toro
Mr. Parking Consultancy
I’m afraid Manny is living in a world I can’t find. Every price I quoted was one I have had personal experience with. Sorry Manny but Big Mac Meals do cost nearly six pounds. I know of the 450,000 pound flat in a London burb, and frankly, in the US you can find a parking space 10 miles from the center of anywhere for 75 pounds. And, the person trying to buy the house in London was an Arab Sheik. Get a life Manny. If you live in the outlying areas, prices are cheaper. However, if you live in London, or Visit London, you will pay, pay, pay. And you would pay $50 for two pizzas and four glasses of wine. Sheesh, most places in the US you could do it for $30…
Sure, you can find bargains anywhere. But compare the prices of gas, big mac, and taxes. Great place to Visit, London, but how can you afford to live here.
Big Macs? Malt whisky?
You better investigate what the cost of an ER visit is considering your poor diet.
P.S. Ooops. I forgot to mention the garlic bread, coke, chips, fries and cheese fries…..Burp!
What does open heart surgery cost over there?
Gallon of gas? With that diet you’re on, you better start walking more!
Yo Manny,
Sounds like you’re street smart, do your homework and don’t get taken for a ride.
Thanks for setting the record straight. I’ll go with your prices.
Be good,
Tony the Nose
Tony:
Manny is spinning and spinning well. As I said earlier you can find anything if you look long enough. However, I have been going to the UK for 30 years, an average of twice a year. The prices there are over the top. And have been. Their is a thing there called the “London Weighting.” that is, if you want someone to work in London, you have to pay them considerably more than someone living next door to Manny. Sorry, but its just how it is. If you want to live in Manny’s neighborhood, you can get a beer a bit cheaper, and you can find a pizza for $15, and certainly you can find houses for less money. Just as its cheaper to live in Des Moines than in New York, by a long shot.
Manny’s local council charges less for parking tickets, so do those in Council Bluffs, and Bakersfield. So what? The comparison is the comparison of living in LA, New York, or London.
However even comparing New York and London Prices you get blown away. A fine restaurant dinner for two with a bottle of wine in New York will cost what, $175. Well in the UK, plan on spending $300. That $50 cab ride in from JFK will cost $100 or more in London.
Folks from the UK come here are are blow away by how cheap everything is. Get over it, its cheaper to live here in the US than in most first world countries. Sorry, but Manny didn’t set the record straight, he just blurred the edges and changed the rules.
jvh
I lived in the UK for 38 years & all my family still live there.The average house price that most people live costs $200,000. Also the US kills you with taxes, the uk do not! All Bills for Gas,Elec & water costs less; they do not rip you off! The phone is cheaper, car INS is alot less, but above all, even in “Bad’ areas ,it is safer & cleaner! Also the Public transport is the world’s best:where else can you get a Bus working through the night?