Thread: Foreign tourists have declined by 50 per cent in 2008

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

There you go. This is roughly 50% more expensive than a comparable meal in the UK right now. So your 'best value' is 50% more expensive than similar in the UK. Now will you get it?

Really?? Now will you get it??

Restaurant prices soar

By Jonathan Prynn, Evening Standard 12.09.06 Add your view

The cream: rising menu prices are blamed on soaring costs at restaurants such as Gordon Ramsay's
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The price of eating out in London has soared almost 50 per cent over the past decade - more than three times the rate of inflation.
The rise was revealed in the 2007 Zagat guide to London restaurants.
It means that the bill for dinner for two at one of London's top-rated restaurants is now close to £200, putting it well out of reach of most Londoners.
The price has spiralled in recent years as restaurateurs have passed on sharply higher costs to their customers.
However, despite the enormous expense of eating out in style, the capital's eating out scene is as buoyant as ever, with 115 openings last year, according to the guide.
But it also shows that "dinner inflation" has accelerated over the past year, with prices up more than seven per cent in London's 20 most expensive restaurants.
Tonight, diners at one of the top 20 will be parted with an average of £82.86 per head, or £165.72 for two, eating a three-course meal with one glass of wine. However, if the price of a bottle of wine is included, the typical bill is easily £200 or more. A decade ago the figure was £55.28 a head.
The picture is little different among the cheaper eating options in London.
Across the 1,005 restaurants surveyed for the guide, the average bill per head has risen from £25.50 in 1996 to £38 this year, also a near 50 per cent increase.
Nina Zagat, co-founder of the guide, said: "Other than Tokyo, London is now the most expensive place to eat on earth, with prices double those in New
York and more than double Los Angeles.
"It is a combination of rising costs and more demanding customers. Having said that, it is still a very healthy market, with 77 per cent of our surveyorssaying they are eating out just as much or more despite the fact that prices are rising."
A comparison of this year's guide with the 1997 edition reveals how prices have taken off. The typical bill at Chez Bruce in Wandsworth was £31 in 1997, now it is £54.
At Le Gavroche in Mayfair the increase is from £60 to £89, while at the Savoy Grill the average price is up from £46 to £61.
Top restaurateurs defended their prices, saying they had been bombarded with unavoidable cost increases in recent years.
Shane Osborn, head chef at the two-Michelin-starred Pied à Terre in Charlotte Street, said: "It's a whole range of small things that all add up. We had the introduction of the minimum wage, which went up again this month.
"Then there's been a huge increase in energy costs, which affects us directly through our bills and through our supplierscosts. A lot of our fish comes from Devon and Cornwall and the scallops come from Scotland.
"The extra petrol cost gets passed on to us. When I started in 2000 we were paying £1.10 a scallop, now it's £1.60.
"Even the linen laundering bill is now up to £2,000 a month. Our gas bill is also up more than 70 per cent."
The restaurant was also facing far higher administration and red-tape costs because of the welter of health and safety and hygiene legislation of recent years, he said.
Employment costs were higher because of a shortage of well-trained kitchen and waiting staff, which has pushed up wages. Insurance and property bills were also up sharply, with the last rent review four years ago raising it from £60,000 to £84,000 a year.
Even a change in council policy on collecting surplus fat has added to the burden.
Five years ago the restaurant was able to sell it, now under tougher environmental rules it has to pay the council to take it away.
The guide also found that diners' biggest irritation is poor service, with 65 per cent naming it their top bugbear.
Londoners' favourite type of food is Italian (24 per cent) followed by French (16 per cent).
Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at 68 Royal Hospital Road was again ranked number one for quality of food.

Restaurant Av price 1996 Av price 2006
Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons £63 £88
Le Gavroche £60 £89
Connaught Restaurant £55 £81*
Chez Bruce £31 £54
Bibendum £46 £55
Savoy Grill £46 £61
Pied A Terre £49.50 £60
*(now called Angela Hartnett's Menu)

Originally Posted by pickel

Connaught Restaurant £55 £81*

I had Xmas lunch at this place, after it became a Ramsay restaurant.
Must've been 8-10 years ago I guess.
It was alright, but to be honest I though it was a bluddy rip-off really. Nothing special.
I was horrified to find out, a couple of years subsequent, Ramsay took over the venerable old Savoy Grill too.
So called 'fine' hotel dining in London has become like a brand franchise.

^97^
Many tx, it'll be afternoon, will send the bill to you if I throw up...

us brits dont like being stuck in airports for days on end while fanatics are planting bombs all over bangkok and innocent people are being killed .

and there is the little issue about the credit crunch and the terrible exchange rate , that might have something to do with the decline in tourists

us brits donot want to change our currency to euro , while the pound has lost value - the tourists are flocking to england to spend money instead of us flocking to theyre countries

^ See you at ASDA ..................I have tons of Euros

Originally Posted by pickel

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

There you go. This is roughly 50% more expensive than a comparable meal in the UK right now. So your 'best value' is 50% more expensive than similar in the UK. Now will you get it?

Really?? Now will you get it??

Restaurant prices soar

By Jonathan Prynn, Evening Standard 12.09.06

Right - now you show how dim you really are. That article is dated September 2006 - the peak of the market, at the time when the pond was strongest and pre-credit crunch. The whole point is that things have now changed.

I note you have still declined to give any details as to the type of establishment and location with reference to tourists that I asked earlier for you to back up your claims.

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

There you go. This is roughly 50% more expensive than a comparable meal in the UK right now. So your 'best value' is 50% more expensive than similar in the UK.

are you out of your mind ? Food in the UK is outrageously priced and mostly shit, unless you go for the top ones and they are not 50 UKP per person. I seriously doubt you can eat a NY steak in England for less than 20 Euros in a nice setup. I can find a few in Paris, but Paris is great for cheap quality food, an exception. In NY, any decent meal is at least 100 USD per person these days. So Manhatan at 50 Euros for a complete meal in a very nice environment is a fucking steal I tell you.

Originally Posted by sabang

Mantra maybe thrice a year.

Love the Mantra, might go again this week. Again, great bargain except for a few "exception" dishes. Also great steak reasonably priced, but not cheap. Love the setup. Good Indian food too. Another great value in Pattaya, you wouldn't get that kind of deal in Europe for that quality.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

There you go. This is roughly 50% more expensive than a comparable meal in the UK right now. So your 'best value' is 50% more expensive than similar in the UK.

are you out of your mind ? Food in the UK is outrageously priced and mostly shit, unless you go for the top ones and they are not 50 UKP per person. I seriously doubt you can eat a NY steak in England for less than 20 Euros in a nice setup. I can find a few in Paris, but Paris is great for cheap quality food, an exception. In NY, any decent meal is at least 100 USD per person these days. So Manhatan at 50 Euros for a complete meal in a very nice environment is a fucking steal I tell you.

Have you been to the UK in the past 4-months?

No?

So you actually have no idea what you are talking about. As per usual.

The answer, by the way, is that virtually all the places I frequent in the UK now have NY steak for less than 20 Euros, which, of course, is 20 pounds. One restaurant I took my friend visiting from NYC (by coincidence) on Boxing Day had a two-for-one offer at 15 pounds, as long as you ordered a bottle of wine at a further 8 pounds. So, wine and two NY steaks for 23 Euros.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Manhatan at 50 Euros for a complete meal in a very nice environment is a fucking steal I tell you.

What planet are you on?

Originally Posted by pickel

Originally Posted by EmperorTud

Not 'Oh My Cod' was it?

One of the worst meals I've ever had was there, and is more the reason I hate "theme" restaurants.

You can't be serious? I love the food there. The Cod and chips, and the taters, are excellent! The price isn't cheap, that's for sure, but you pay for quality.
Damn, I miss that place. Chris is also the host with the most.

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

Have you been to the UK in the past 4-months?

ok so a few desperate restaurants are offering "recession" deals, still it's food in England so it's shit. Again, apart from the top restaurants, all restaurants in the UK are expensive and worthless, unless you are a tasteless Brit like yourself of course

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

Have you been to the UK in the past 4-months?

ok so a few desperate restaurants are offering "recession" deals, still it's food in England so it's shit. Again, apart from the top restaurants, all restaurants in the UK are expensive and worthless, unless you are a tasteless Brit like yourself of course

So Butterfly loses the argument and decides just to bash Brits instead. This is after admitting he hasn't been there recently to investigate if anything he is stating as 'fact' is true at all.

[quote=bkkandrew;897535][quote=pickel;897509]

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

Wrong on all counts.

For example - The Black Swan charges B220 for a pint of Heineken. That is
₤4.90 for the tourists who change up in the UK at the current rate.

Food-wise, a pizza at Little Italy is about B350, which is ₤7.80, hardly a 'high-class' joint, yet does not compare well with the Pizza Express outlests in the UK, which manage to serve up a pizza for ₤5.99.

So, in your world, what do you think tourists eat and drink when they come here?

I know when I travel OS I eat where the locals eat, fuck having some shit western crap

The prawn phad ka phao from a local shanty is nice, plenty of fresh prawns, made to order (ie not too much chilli) and at 25bht, damn cheap. Washed down with a large Leo (on ice- nice n cold) at 42bht, I'm not complaining.

Sounds great

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

(...)

So, bkkandrew and all the rest who feel likewise -- if everything is so much better (or equitable) in the UK... well, you know where I'm going with this...

Personally, when I visit Thailand, I eat local food, from local food joints -- (and sure, occasionally I spice it up with a pizza, or something different.)

The point is I certainly don't travel here in order to eat burgers, hot dogs, bangers and mash, pork chops, and fish & chips (or to stay glued to the telly watching me footie).

Who really cares about the prices in Thailand, once you decided to travel here? You can find prices for comparables that are cheaper, the same, or vastly more expensive than in the West -- it depends where you go. I have had a pizza meal for two people for under $10, that tasted awesome. I have also had shitty pizza for $25, a single.

Once you depart on a trip, and you bought the tickets, you either know what local prices are, or you don't care. It's that simple.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Again, apart from the top restaurants, all restaurants in the UK are expensive and worthless,

Not so- expensive perhaps (but gotten a lot cheaper to a foreigner recently), but not necessarily worthless. It is a situation I have seen change for the better over many years of travelling to the UK. It remains the case that the average pub restaurant, or restaurant is basically boring and mediocre, the same old food out of the same old freezer, quite likely from the same wholesaler.

But there are more and more worthy restaurants, including pub restaurants. The trick is to find them- usually via word of mouth. A random visit to a cozy looking pub is rarely rewarded by anything better than mediocre food, although a cask ale is nice. But there are some damn good places too, and being the UK they can be in some out of the way places- just chancing across them would be sheer luck. The Three Crowns in Brinkworth, near Swindon, and the Butchers Arms in a small village in southern Warwickshire (damn hard to find) are two that spring to mind- and they are excellent. Obviously, there will be many more scattered around the country, frequented by locals and those in the know.

Originally Posted by DaffyDuck

Originally Posted by bkkandrew

(...)

So, bkkandrew and all the rest who feel likewise -- if everything is so much better (or equitable) in the UK... well, you know where I'm going with this...

And again, you know nothing - I export from Thailand after retiring from a business that I set up here and around the world. I am not on holiday here.

Originally Posted by DaffyDuck

Personally, when I visit Thailand, I eat local food, from local food joints -- (and sure, occasionally I spice it up with a pizza, or something different.)

The point is I certainly don't travel here in order to eat burgers, hot dogs, bangers and mash, pork chops, and fish & chips (or to stay glued to the telly watching me footie).

Who really cares about the prices in Thailand, once you decided to travel here? You can find prices for comparables that are cheaper, the same, or vastly more expensive than in the West -- it depends where you go. I have had a pizza meal for two people for under $10, that tasted awesome. I have also had shitty pizza for $25, a single.

Mosts tourists will factor in the cost of going to a range of bars and restaurants (along with other activities) at their destination denominated in their local currency. For Brits this now works out more expensive, like for like, with being in the UK. As it used to be a given that Thailand was 'so cheap', this will cause tourist numbers from the UK to drop off significantly.

Once you depart on a trip, and you bought the tickets, you either know what local prices are, or you don't care. It's that simple.[/quote]

And as to underscore the point - latest press release from JDW:

Pub chain slashes beer prices

pa.press.net

Leading pub chain JD Wetherspoon is to slash prices on some drinks and food, offering a pint of beer for less than £1, down to 1989 prices, the company revealed.

The company, which operates 713 pubs across the UK, said the price reductions on some beer, bottled lager, wine and spirits will run "indefinitely".

A number of meals will also be offered at £2.99, said the firm, which opened 20 new pubs in the last few months of 2008, creating hundreds of new jobs, despite the economic downturn.

Wetherspoon's chief executive John Hutson said: "People enjoy going to the pub. However, we appreciate that the economic downturn means that they now have to be more careful with their money.

"We believe that our new food and drink prices will allow people to enjoy a visit to a Wetherspoon pub without it costing them too much.

"Unlike most sales that start in January, our offers will not be ending within days, but will run indefinitely."

Greene King IPA will be cut to 99p a pint, as will a bottle of San Miguel, the company announced.

Now - for those that need reminding, at the current tourist rate 99p for that pint of IPA (not a bad pint), or that Sam Mig is 44 Baht.

^ Business in the uk are happy to run with promotions like that right now.
The game for many big firms now is solely to survive 2009 by avoiding bankrupcty if I'm not mistaken?

^Correct. However it will be nice to get change out of a quid for a decent pint when I get back in a few weeks.

has anyone actually eaten a weatherspoon £2.99 meal!

you pay for what you get they are disgusting