What is the actual cost of living in London?

fatboyonadiet

Generally speaking how much more does it cost to live in London then the rest of the UK? For example if you earned £30k in a job in the Northwest how much would you need to be earning comparatively in London?

skintchick

Where exactly are we comparing it with? Because I live in south Oxfordshire and there's no difference at all in cost of living between here and London.

And I imagine it is expensive to live in a number of cities up north too. It all depends on what you are paying now.

[Deleted User]

The cost is mostly the difference in renting/mortgages... my parents have a nice 4 bedroom detached in house in greater manchester. If they sold up and moved to a reasonable suburb of London they'd probably end up with a 3 bedroom semi- for the same money.

Food doesn't cost more in london (eating out is quite reasonable also)
Booze does cost more
Petrol might be marginally more
Rent is higher than the rest of the country

TokyoJoe

I think where you really notice the cost difference is in services . Yes you can shop around and find cheaper but I think for an equivelent quality you generally pay more in London.

e.g

Plumber =£50 an hour
Motorcycle mechanic =£47 an hour
Drama lesson for children £15 an hour
1-2-1 English tuition for chilld = £23 an hour

[Deleted User]

You'd be amazed at how there's less people in Grimsby and Oldham that send their children to drama lessons than in Hampstead.

But seriously.. I had chemistry tuition when I was doing my A levels (in 1997/8.. oh so long ago) and I'm sure that cost about 20 pounds an hour. This was in Bury, Lancs. Cheers mum and dad!

fatboyonadiet

Cheers all, found this doc: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/economic_unit/case_for_london/costofliving_exec_summary.pdf which looks useful.