I shopped at Tesco in Ireland today ( prices charged in Euros ) and can get to Tesco Derry in 20 minutes and pay in £ stg at normal UK prices . In August we spent three weeks in France and shopped in Carefour / Mamouth / Aldi / Lidl etc . I find it difficult to see any price difference between UK and Ireland using todays rate of 1.167Euro/£ , vat is going to 23% in Ireland which could increase prices but if the Euro drops due to Sarkozy and Merkel not getting it sorted it could go the other way for a short period but then we will get price inflation. Compared to France I find UK prices cheap , all the time we were there we did not find a single bargain in short dated price reduced food and no 20P loaves , in Ireland you can eat for very little cost by picking up the short dated items . I found supermarkets in France on average 10 to 15% more expensive than UK and for childrens clothes over 100% more expensive . We have Primark in Ireland and UK , they seem to have the market at the moment for cheap clothing and in Ireland there is a place paying Euro 60c / kilo for your old clothes and shoes ( which means on some of the stuff Primark sells you could almost make a profit ) . Needed a pair of jeans in France and paid 30 Euro from Carrefour that would have been 5 Euro or less in Primark Ireland . When I worked in the Philippines we had sandwiches every lunch for some reason I cannot remember , buying tinned tuna in mayo from Robinsons I remember it costing double what we would pay in the UK and the tins being only filled less than half and thinking how do they get away with that ? My favourite is fresh mango , I cannot see that being available anywhere else in the world better or cheaper than the Philippines ?Originally Posted by Andy n Grasya
