London

**Dutchie** · 12-21-2009, 10:36 AM

We were in London this weekend and it is hard to believe that there is a recession on in the UK.
The lines at the cash registers were miles long and it wasn't only the tourists who were buying. (The euro is very strong - for now - and it is therefore quite good for us to shop in the UK at the moment. However we were very good at restraining ourselves.)

What did amaze me was the price of food both in M&S and in the restaurants. A glass of wine either in a bar, restaurant or in the hotel was at least 4 or 5 pounds. Unheard of here, so expensive.

I did hear on the news there that it was expected that spending would 'recover' for the Christmas period. In the same report the news mentioned that over 3,000,000 people were still paying for last year's Christmas.

**britbunny** · 12-21-2009, 04:23 PM

Yes, it really seems like "everyone" is going for it this Christmas. I don't know if this is the same everywhere but decorations went up earlier and people seem to have been talking about big plans a lot more this year than before.

Much of the advertising/tv has been about having a big family celebration at home this year. So I think people have been splashing out, but on different things. Restaurants and bars are quieter than in previous years imo but the queues at the supermarket are just as long and the baskets just as full.

The one positive that's come from the recession is that people are more open about using coupons! I think some of it comes from the moneysavingexpert site as there are lots of printables to be found. It almost seems mainstream to have a coupon for eating at certain places such as Pizza Express. Even my very unfrugal friends say people would be mad to not take advantage of the offer!

**she who can not cook** · 12-27-2009, 02:03 PM

now i am going to sound bad here but to you have trouble with coupons esp printing off the net do the shops take them

**britbunny** · 12-28-2009, 07:17 AM

In terms of coupons I think it depends where you go and how well the staff are trained. Restaurants are generally very good and are used to people using coupons. I think where many people have trouble is at the supermarket, there has been much abuse of coupons so some accept them and some don't - I think it varies from store to store.

Tbh, I rarely use coupons printed from the net unless they're for a restaurant, if I'm going to use a coupon I generally play it safe and use ones I've received through the post, from magazines or the newspaper. It saves me a lot of faff.

**Peaches** · 12-31-2009, 03:33 AM

I used some coupons at Morrisons yesterday that I printed from this site. It was the first time I used coupons in my 15 years of living in the UK (with the exception of some things I got in my Bounty packs when I was pregnant). I gave them to the cashier before she started running items through the till, and she went through every coupon and verified that I actually had these things in my trolley. I got about £2.50 off paper products (toilet paper/kitchen roll), some jarred peppers and curry paste - all things that I normally have in my pantry. I've decided that I'll check this site every week from this point forward, and if there's a coupon I can use I'll print it.