Am I being unrealistic?

pascal30

although my local cafe charges, what seem to me, enormous prices they are always packed with young people and families..
and queues waiting.. it's extraodinary

I had to book a table last Wednesday lunchtime (myself, DD and GC) at our local coffee shop/bistro, it was packed with young families along with local business folks.

The bill came to £55, two lattes, one apple juice, one orange juice along with a child’s full English breakfast, prawn salad
Sandwich and a feta cheese and salad on sourdough.

Trouble is you are not just having a coffee, you are sitting in a warm room and using a clean cup etc etc.

midgey

Trouble is you are not just having a coffee, you are sitting in a warm room and using a clean cup etc etc.

Exactly, staff to be paid, business rates, rent, heating and light, water rates, insurance so many overheads all increasing.

2.65 for a herbal tea this morning. An older man was working on a laptop and when I passed 2 hours later he was still there.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I would happily pay up to €6 for a cappuccino - I don't have the means to make one at home and I wouldn't use them more than once a month anyway. I wouldn't bother with a cake or bun though.

GrannyGravy13

pascal30

although my local cafe charges, what seem to me, enormous prices they are always packed with young people and families..
and queues waiting.. it's extraodinary

I had to book a table last Wednesday lunchtime (myself, DD and GC) at our local coffee shop/bistro, it was packed with young families along with local business folks.

The bill came to £55, two lattes, one apple juice, one orange juice along with a child’s full English breakfast, prawn salad
Sandwich and a feta cheese and salad on sourdough.

Was it the Ritz?

I confess that I don't pay when I get taken out for lunch, but that seems on the expensive side to me.

Fleurpepper

Yes, prices in the UK have soared recently.

Yes, it's become a luxury as it was when I was young.

midgey

Trouble is you are not just having a coffee, you are sitting in a warm room and using a clean cup etc etc.

Yet my friend and I had a delicious two course meal last week in a small Thai restaurant, £7.95 each. The week before I met friends for a Japanese lunch, two courses for £8.99. Both in central Leeds. No wonder people were queuing for tables!

Fleurpepper

Yes, prices in the UK have soared recently.

Definitely not just the UK - energy costs have hiked prices everywhere. We have just been in France and cafe prices there are higher than 6 months ago. Daughter who lives in Spain says the same.

2 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc in London cost £ 20.50!

Prices rising everywhere, came through Faro airport last week, picked up daughters favourite Pastel de nata, four in pack,
€12 😳 good job I love her dearly 🤣

Ah, Pastel de nata. £1.50 at M&S; £1 at Co-op and S/burys and 59p at Lidl; Lidl was the best!

Depends where you go for it I suppose, but sounds about right… tart was probably about £3-4, leaving the two coffees at?

Och / somebody is making it for you, cleaning the dishes afterwards and you’ve got your feet up - still cheaper than therapy!

Waitrose Free coffee is back! Yay! You do need to do some shopping to qualify though, have a mywaitrose card(free) and also have to bring your own cup, but worth it with the prices of barista coffee shop drinks.

Just another example of the high cost of living under this fatcat Tory government.

I went into a cafe yesterday and had a truly awful cup of coffee - bitter and unsatisfying, and I felt quite bitter when I was asked for £3.00.
As for Waitrose coffee - I wish they wouldn't. I have seen people wobbling around the shop trying to steer a trolley and hold a cup of hot coffee, and on one occasion the whole lot went over the conveyer belt at the till.

Rosina

I went into a cafe yesterday and had a truly awful cup of coffee - bitter and unsatisfying, and I felt quite bitter when I was asked for £3.00.
As for Waitrose coffee - I wish they wouldn't. I have seen people wobbling around the shop trying to steer a trolley and hold a cup of hot coffee, and on one occasion the whole lot went over the conveyer belt at the till.

Also Waitrose coffee is pretty weak and tasteless

I knew there was a reason I haven't had coffee in a shop for about 5 years. I resent having to pay any money for something I don't need don't want and can get at home.
Maybe I am just a miser.

Its about 2 pound for a coffee in Gregg's, I would expect to pay double that nearly anywhere else.

Sasta - where were you? I'm in London and frankly the price you paid is about right. I sat at a table on the pavement outside a coffee shop on Piccadilly not long ago and had one pot of camomile tea (for two), served in china cups on saucers - £11.50. I did question the price when I looked at the amount on the credit card pad, and was simply told that the tea was being served in cups, and we would be sitting down (with all of London's polluted air!).

And this is exactly the reason I don’t buy coffee from these places.

I just think the coffees are insanely expensive and take so L O N G to make. We have a bean-to-cup machine at home which can automatically add good frothed milk. It takes around a minute per two shot cup. A 750g bag of good coffee is £10 to £12. And no insane queues with long waits.
Personally I'm happier to pay for a lovely Prêt sandwich or roll rather than an overpriced cake. But independent cafés often have nice "homemade" slices of cake.

There's a lovely Indian near us, lunch at £8.50 during the week, really nice food.