London is becoming unaffordable...

[Petrushka]

Visiting the capital for last night's Bruckner at the RFH I was staggered by the steep price rises. My usual Bloomsbury hotel now charges £81 a night as opposed to £63 a year ago. The London Underground day travel card is now a whopping £7 and food prices have taken an upward trajectory making starvation a preferred option. It can't be the Olympics - they haven't started yet! My salary has barely risen in the past three years.

London is becoming too expensive to visit.

[french frank]

My usual Bloomsbury hotel now charges £81 a night as opposed to £63 a year ago.

My Bloomsbury hotel went up from £69 last year to £75 this. I decided to rebel last time and booked at a small hotel nearby. A single was advertised at £42, but it turned out that was already taken. The next price up was £55 (£56 for payment by card). Then I had overlooked the fact that breakfast was not included, so total price went up to just over £61. And just a washbasin, no en suite. The rather shabby furniture and decor made the £75 I would have paid look like good value.

[Flosshilde]

The London Underground day travel card is now a whopping £7

When I visit family in the South I usually spend 2-3 days in London, visiting friends & taking in a couple of exhibitions. This is about every 1 - 2 months. I've got an Oyster card which I top up whenever neccessary. It's much cheaper than getting day tickets, & I can get off the train at Euston & straight on to the underground (or overground, or bus) without having to queue at the ticket office/machine.

[Petrushka]

My Bloomsbury hotel went up from £69 last year to £75 this. I decided to rebel last time and booked at a small hotel nearby. A single was advertised at £42, but it turned out that was already taken. The next price up was £55 (£56 for payment by card). Then I had overlooked the fact that breakfast was not included, so total price went up to just over £61. And just a washbasin, no en suite. The rather shabby furniture and decor made the £75 I would have paid look like good value.

The first room I was offered yesterday smelled heavily of cigarette smoke so I had to return to reception for another, The sink was blocked in that one. London hotels are a shameless rip-off and the high prices seem hard to justify.

I realise that cheap rooms are available with diligent searching but standards are very low and I don't want cockroach infested accommodation.

[Mahlerei]

Yes, London prices are ridiculous. They say hoteliers are jacking up prices eveN further to take advantage of the Olympics and Jubilee visitors.

[kernelbogey]

Although I've no personal experience of doing so, I understand that by approaching a large hotel, or one belonging to a chain, on the day you want to stay and asking for their 'best price' and offering to pay cash, bargains may be had. (I agree that advertised prices are a rip-off.) Also there are websites which offer bargain deals.

[scottycelt]

I had planned to attend the first two RFH Bruckner concerts this week but reluctantly changed my mind over the likely cost of two nights in London. As Petrushka says the cost for many now is unacceptable/unaffordable. I have the possible alternative of staying overnight at a heavily-subsisdised company club in Cookham, Berks, or reluctantly imposing on relatives in nearby Maidenhead, but I hate having to rush for trains, and then waiting for taxis etc at the other end

My favourite London concerts (apart from the Proms) are at 3pm on a Sunday at the Barbican. That allows for a day-trip to the capital with no overnight stay, and my ticket for Bruckner 5/RCO/Haitink next month has already been booked. Absolutely nothing will stop me missing that one!

Btw, Petrushka ... whilst I'm on the side-topic ... what did you think of Barenboim's Bruckner 7 on Tuesday?

[Richard Tarleton]

I've got an Oyster card which I top up whenever neccessary. It's much cheaper than getting day tickets, & I can get off the train at Euston & straight on to the underground (or overground, or bus) without having to queue at the ticket office/machine.

Definitely worth getting an oyster card even if you only visit London a handful of times a year. Mine's on automatic top up (if it falls below £5 credit, it tops itself up again to a sum of your choice). You save an absolute fortune on buses and tubes. For travellers on First Great Western (?ff) there are the hotels in Sussex Gardens, equally sleazy but at least you can imagine you're George Smiley for the night .

I'm lucky, I have some good friends in Hampstead and concerts and operas are always accompanied by bracing walks on the Heath.

[jean]

And don't forget that if you're old enough, your bus pass will let you use the buses free (but not the tube).

[Chris Newman]

I go up to London about once a month and if visiting or staying with friends or relatives I find the Oyster Card invaluable. They save a fortune on travel. One word of caution with Oyster Cards: at main stations ignore the touch pads on the escalators and travelators. Only use the pads at actual barriers otherwise you waste a couple of minutes whilst a gentleman switches your card back on.

Yes, Jean. I use my bus pass on routes I am familiar with. The good old No 11 (they still sometimes come in threes)

[Don Petter]

Don't get to London much these days, but we've just returned from our annual week in Paris, where the metro still seems excellent value at the equivalent of a pound a ticket (€12.70 for a carnet of 10). How does this compare with Oyster?

The mandatory coffee stops were expensive, admittedly, varying from €6 to €10 for two (white) coffees sitting down. How does this (average £3.35 a cup) rate with the Smoke? Here in deepest Sussex we think £2.35 is top whack at a local hotel.

[jean]

Coffee is expensive here - up to £2 for an espresso compared with a euro in Italy - but you don't pay extra to sit down to drink it, which is an advantage if sitting down is what you really want to do.

A single tube journey is more expensive in London than in Paris (the system here covers a much larger area I think) but Oyster automatically caps your charges at the level of a travelcard or somewhere near. And if you have a Railcard, you can register that on your Oyster account and the upper limit will be lower.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

London has already become too expensive for me. Because last trains to a station anywhere near where I live leave just as the Finale of a concert is being started, any event has to involve an overnight stay. I'd end up paying as much for a single concert as I do for all the concerts and events that I attend at the Huddersfield Festival each year: I just can't afford it.

[gamba]

I left the place behind me over 50 years ago & never regretted it. From a terrace house in Muswell Hill to a detached one just outside the village of Rhu, W.Dunbartonshire. No immediate neighbours, rose garden, lawns, the lot, plus a large stretch of water called the Gareloch right outside ( almost ! ) the front door. Plus, BBCSSO, RSNO, SCO, Scottish Opera & Ballet, chamber music galore & all at a fraction of London prices. Although there was a price to be paid - had I stayed I might, repeat, might, (?) have become a well-known ( & wealthy ! ) feature film lighting cameraman ( what the yanks call a cinematographer ).

I do realise that for the majority such a move would be impossible & they have my sympathy. I'm not boasting, quite the reverse & wish more might have a similar opportunity & the mindset to accompany such a venture. Too frequently I have encountered people who could & would make such a move but refrain out of consideration for, or opposition from, close family members, an incredibly difficult & very personal problem to deal with. Nowadays, just to have a job & the need to hang on to it is reason enough to 'dig in' & stay where you are.

[3rd Viennese School]

I dont use travel cards oyster cards et al.

I just stick my bike on the train.
And its quicker!
Last train back is 0040.

I do have to dash after a concert for last orders in a pub however!

3VS