Panorama Programme About Cost of Entertainments

WithNobsOnIt
Do you mean that You take the children out every week or are you referring to the would be middleclass whatever that means.

Yes we spent around £100 on a family meal with our two children at Burger King on Saturday. We take them out every week.

£100 at a Burger King? 😲
How old are your children, btw? Still children?
If teenage boys, I can understand them getting through a large amount of food.

Total spoiled brats

They play on their parents guilt many of whom may work full time.
To pay for massively over priced junk food delivered at every turn.

Just Say No.
You're making a rod for your own back.

Caleo I think it depends on their ages too, my grandchildren used to love a wood/river walk, my daughter had them out every weekend - when they were younger. Now, the 13 year old is out with mates all weekend, the older one studying for exams for now. A family meal out is time to connect for longer than at the daily dinner - they do sit down together for that.
However, a meal out is a school holiday treat, or a birthday,not necessarily all half terms either.
WithNobs no showing off in the circles I move in, that includes friends of my children, probably not ‘middle class’ enough!

Allira

Zoos are concentrating on conservation now.

Their costs must be massive.

I appreciate costs for places like zoos are expensive, but if the entry costs were, say half of what they are, would you not get twice as many people going? Making extra money off of more people buying while they are there

I am taking two GC out today, indoor trampoline park (£40 for two hours) and then lunch.

If we go to McDonalds it will probably be around £30 if we go to the local independent tea room (licensed and delicious fresh cooked food) it will be around £60.

Everything is already pricey and due to the current situations in the Middle East and Ukraine will only get more expensive.

My DD's family get discounts through work mainly, but also Clubcard offers.

They also pay annual memberships which are cheaper but means they go to the same places all the time. Even I get bored with going to the same wildlife park!

Just feel obliged to chip in regarding "treats" and families.

We had five children and if we wanted to visit certain relatives (long long journeys) I'd pack an enormous box of sandwiches, take fruit etc but we would still have to have a second stop somewhere to break the journey.
I can remember egg and chips at a little chef or similar.

The children saw this as a real treat - but it was very expensive. On the way home we'd usually leave late and so not need to eat twice on the way as the children would sleep.

It saved a fortune.
I'd say eating out was ever thus!

This makes me chuckle.

My Dad was so tight that as children we never ate out - nor indeed had a cup of tea in a cafe ... "Why pay those prices when you can make a cup of tea at home for next to nothing?"

I was promised a family meal out if I passed the 11+, which I duly did. We went to Dad's works canteen!!

It took me a very long while after I left home to work out that people went out for meals for pleasure.

Dad also put Stick-a-Soles on his slippers! Although I do have some sympathy with that, others thought it was a joke.

pooohbear2811

Allira

Zoos are concentrating on conservation now.

Their costs must be massive.

I appreciate costs for places like zoos are expensive, but if the entry costs were, say half of what they are, would you not get twice as many people going? Making extra money off of more people buying while they are there

Not necessarily, because if you had twice as many people going, you'd need to employ more staff - admin, catering, general groundspeople, first aiders, shop assistants, security etc - and also instate more facilities for the number of visitors. The extra money would just be swallowed up.

As a child I have only an occasional recollection of being taken out for a meal by my parents other than an occasional a high tea of fish and chips with bread and butter- and tea- and I don’t feel any poorer for that.
Meals «out» tended to be in hotels anyway - Brown Windsor soup or tomato juice, overcooked meat, soggy veg and maybe trifle for pudding.
No great loss.
But I agree- it is expensive these days- Pizza Express is popular with the children and adults as a mid range meal out.
I do like to buy tickets for something rather than things though especially for the teenagers- theatre tickets recently for « Dear England» were £60 each and «Ballet Shoes» last year about the same 🙁🙁
But isn’t it all relative? How much does it cost to go to a football match? How much do some people spend in n holidays?
It can be hard however when a granny on a pension gulps at one ticket alone costing more than a weekly supermarket shop.

RosiesMawagain you were lucky getting Ballet Shoes tickets for £60, do you mean the production at The National Theatre, Southbank?

My sister and I paid £110 each for matinee tickets December 2025 (circle)

WithNobsOnIt

I think that spending a lot of money on a family meal at a chain food outlet is down to several things.

Yes, and l.know it is a break for usually the mother's not to have to shop and cook.

A lot of would be middle class families like to boast to their friends about how much they have spent on a family meal outing.

Yes we spent around £100 on a family meal with our two children at Burger King on Saturday. We take them out every week.

They are keeping up with Joneses and this is a status thing for them.

Pester power. Children are now very well drilled and brainwashed by the media and their friends on fast food. Outlets and take aways. Total spoiled brats

They play on their parents guilt many of whom may work full time.
To pay for massively over priced junk food delivered at every turn.

I think it is sad the way Children can really call the tune on their slave like parents. How did we get into this situation?

Also l.recckon you could knock. up a better than Burger King family meal with top of the range ingredients from ALDI and an air fryer.

For about half the price.

Parenting includes basic cooking , household economics,and nutrition capability. I wonder if boys and girls at school are given a few lessons on nutrition. It does not take many lessons to teach the basics.

GrannyGravy13

RosiesMawagain you were lucky getting Ballet Shoes tickets for £60, do you mean the production at The National Theatre, Southbank?

My sister and I paid £110 each for matinee tickets December 2025 (circle)

Yes, I took GD in January 25 as her Christmas present- being only 10 she qualified for a child ticket and we had brilliant seats also circle (row B)
I’d rather not think what my ticket was, probably closer to yours!

What a coincidence we were row B also.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, we laughed and cried.

Despite there being a 16 year age gap (I am the older sister) it was a favourite book for both of us, in fact the entire Shoe Series books were well worn 📚📚

I think we have at least 15 years worth of children who don't know how to play

I'm sorry that the children you know are like that, withnobsonit. It must put you right off the younger generation.

I haven't found that at all. In my very different experience parents enjoy being with their children (most of the time, at least ), and feel that taking them out to eat is teaching them how to behave in public. A family meal out is also a bonding experience, and can often round off a trip to the cinema, bowling alley or whatever.

The choice of venue may come down to children's tastes (few adults would choose to go to Burger King, I suspect) but there is no point in taking them somewhere they won't enjoy, or where there is likely to be arguments over food. To equate that to 'brats' playing on their parents' guilt is a huge leap. Again, if you are talking about children in your life, you will know if it's true for them, but as I say, the families I know do it because it's something they all like, and they enjoy one another's company, so it's definitely not a universal thing.

Of course people can pare things back when money is tight, and most of us do from time to time, but that doesn't mean that people should never treat themselves, does it? We used to eat home cooked food most nights, but now and again we'd go to a restaurant for a change. It was a treat all round, not based on guilt (I never felt guilty about providing for my children), and everyone enjoyed it.

I don't know anyone who buys massively overpriced junk food at every turn, so our experiences vary there, too. I know people who buy it now and again, and others who would rather buy massively overpriced organic food - their money, their choice in both cases, and nobody shows off about it.

Must say I was a mite 😱 at the cost of a basic lunch out with the 3 Gdcs on Sunday. We’d taken them to the early showing of The Magic Faraway Tree, and then for lunch at Five Guys, conveniently in the same building, because (before anyone wonders why we didn’t take them home for something cheap and healthy) we then had to take them the 60 miles home straight afterwards.

Anyway, two standard burgers, one cheeseburger, all with pickles, one small cheeseburger without, one hot dog with onions (me), one large fries to share, one ‘soda’ each for the kids.
Bill was just over £70.

I suppose that if a bag of crisps and a picked egg outside the pub could be classed as eating out then yes, me and my sister often ate out but our parents weren’t with us, they were in the pub 😂

Just remembered.
Me and my sister ate out properly every Saturday. After Saturday morning pictures we were given the money to have Pie and Mash at Manzies.
We knew how to live 😂

WithNobsOnIt

I think that spending a lot of money on a family meal at a chain food outlet is down to several things.

Yes, and l.know it is a break for usually the mother's not to have to shop and cook.

A lot of would be middle class families like to boast to their friends about how much they have spent on a family meal outing.

Yes we spent around £100 on a family meal with our two children at Burger King on Saturday. We take them out every week.

They are keeping up with Joneses and this is a status thing for them.

Pester power. Children are now very well drilled and brainwashed by the media and their friends on fast food. Outlets and take aways. Total spoiled brats

They play on their parents guilt many of whom may work full time.
To pay for massively over priced junk food delivered at every turn.

I think it is sad the way Children can really call the tune on their slave like parents. How did we get into this situation?

Also l.recckon you could knock. up a better than Burger King family meal with top of the range ingredients from ALDI and an air fryer.

For about half the price.

Our GC have so called fast food several times a year. (The two I am currently out with have opted for the independent tea shop over McDonald’s)

They go to all sorts of restaurants, with a variety of cuisines.

Definitely not spoilt brats just fortunate that their parents have well paying jobs…

The younger ones are just as happy in the garden in the summer, swimming and playing.

I need to be informed as to whether or not the cost of meals out and other outings is a lot higher in proportion to average income than it previously was.

Did the Panorama programme answer that question?

The key point, I think, is that it’s not just that meals out and entertainment have gone up in price — it’s that they’ve risen much faster than wages.

For a long time (especially in the 2000s), eating out became relatively affordable for many people. But since the financial crisis and particularly after the pandemic, prices have increased sharply while incomes haven’t kept pace.

(Chat GPT)

Caleo

I need to be informed as to whether or not the cost of meals out and other outings is a lot higher in proportion to average income than it previously was.

Did the Panorama programme answer that question?

It will be on BBC iPlayer if you want to check.

I have a very nice picnic basket and this topic makes me think a good picnic and a day out in the countryside or to the coast is an excellent idea with children, keeping expensive outings to a minimum and no arguing. There are lots of activities that are not expensive if you use your imagination.

But then I grew up being ignored most of the time, only Saturday cinema and a bottle of council pop and jam butties for time in the local park. Boredom, as mentioned, can be a good motivator too. Bertrand Russell was an ignored only child and said it it how he became so learned, he spent all of his time reading.

I’m going to order stick on soles Luckygirl13, they sound a good idea!😁👍