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Comments 33

beckyc August 14 2013, 14:33:37 UTC
I remember when polos went up to 8p!

(And I'm a year younger than you, and you're OBVIOUSLY not old. so therefore I can't be old either ;-).)

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venta August 14 2013, 14:56:47 UTC
Do you know when that was? I'm not sure I remember it, but that may well be more to do with my not buying sweets much when a kid.

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beckyc August 14 2013, 16:04:16 UTC
Sadly, no. I was very young at the time, though. I can't place it exactly, but since it didn't go up by 1/2p (which I also vaguely remember), I guess it must have been after they got rid of the 1/2p.

I didn't buy sweets as a child either. Wasn't allowed them. But fantasising about buying them *was* something I'd do ;-).

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beckyc August 14 2013, 16:06:34 UTC
I do remember that there was GREAT controversy at secondary school when diet coke went up from 30 to 35p. That would have been early 90s.

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strange_complex August 14 2013, 14:52:34 UTC
Interesting - I wonder whether the fact that I'm consistently at the low end of the spectrum of guesses reflects the fact that I live in the North and work on a University campus, or just the fact that I don't buy these things very often and don't look very carefully at the price when I do? Will look forward to further responses and The Answers (you are going to give us The Answers, aren't you?) to find out.

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venta August 14 2013, 14:55:05 UTC
I shall certainly be including The Answers in a post (probably tomorrow), yes! I don't think I'd expect prices to vary hugely on things like Mars bars across the country, but I might well be wrong about that.

I might walk to the campus shop to check tomorrow - in general, the campus shop here always seems quite expensive for the things I've bought there. Then again that might be the Tesco Express effect, where things seem expensive because they only sell Named Brands.

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tigerfort August 14 2013, 23:18:43 UTC
I think there's probably limited variation (though definitely some) geographically, but the type of retail establishment makes a bigger difference. If we consider a largish supermarket to be base, then I'd expect a petrol station[1] to be around base+20% and motorway services to be a minimum of base+50%.

[1] one not attached to a largish supermarket, since it's plausible that those match prices with the main shop

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damerell August 14 2013, 15:03:56 UTC
venta August 14 2013, 15:14:37 UTC
Ah yes, I think I have known that in the past. Or at least known that they were different; maybe a passing USian will speak up for their Mars bars.

Years ago, a New Zealand friend kept telling me that Moro bars sold in NZ were like UK Mars bars "only much nicer". When I finally got to try a Moro bar I was incredibly disappointed. I'd describe them as very inferior Mars bar knock-offs, so I guess it's what you're used to :)

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damerell August 14 2013, 15:15:36 UTC
beckyc August 14 2013, 16:14:48 UTC
Tim Tams are great! I was so happy when my local large supermarket started selling them.

Shame they are dairy-ey :-(.

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sushidog August 14 2013, 16:16:09 UTC
I promise I had not read your footnotes when I gave my answers!

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stegzy August 14 2013, 17:08:14 UTC
Petrol stations are notoriously expensive for snacks. Well...in these here midlands anyway.

Of particular note is the price of fags in service stations where prices range from £3.80 for a pack of 10 to nearly £6 for a pack of 10. And I'm talking middle of the range budget fags like Mayfair here. Glad I gave up. I'd be stone broke.

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venta August 14 2013, 21:01:48 UTC
I think of the garage as being reasonably priced - until recently, it was the cheapest place to buy a 4 pint bottle of milk - despite it being an M&S. Admittedly, the local competition was Budgens and other corner-shop-esque establishments, so doubtless it could still be acquired more cheaply in big supermarkets. I'm not sure if the chocolate bars are priced by M&S or BP, though - I assume BP, so the price of milk may be completely irrelevant.

(Tesco's price for semi-skimmed is currently £1.39. Until very recently, the garage was £1.29, but has just jumped to £1.49. Most expensive was the Best Buy near the pub, where I declined £1.9something).

No longer living with a smoker, I was somewhat surprised recently to find that the going rate for 20 in a non-service station environment is nearly eight quid. Youch.

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