Shopping in Northern Ireland?

[OneRedArmy]

If it takes someone 5 hours to drive from Limerick to Navan they shouldn't be let outside the house, nevermind outside the State.

[Newryrep]

Tesco (down south ) are selling 2 slabs of beer for 50 euro this week(start dec 1st ) . Didnt know where to put this as foot doesnt have a bargins thread. Might be better than driving up north for it.

Bud carlsberg bulmers guinness !

Both Tesco's and Sainsbury previously had 3 for 2 offer on 20 bottles of 284ml Stella for £20 ie 60 bottles - I now have close to 10 cases in the house.

[brendy_éire]

Both Tesco's and Sainsbury previously had 3 for 2 offer on 20 bottles of 284ml Stella for £20 ie 60 bottles - I now have close to 10 cases in the house.

And 18 bottles of Carlsberg for £5.

Interesting letter to the Independent today. Titled 'Patriotism and shopping' the reader noted that the politicians calling for southerners to be 'patriotic' and not shop in the north are the very people who have fpr years been travelling to Britain to pump their Irish money into English and Scottish football clubs, leaving Irish clubs to struggling to survive.
What's the difference?

[OneRedArmy]

And 18 bottles of Carlsberg for £5.

Interesting letter to the Independent today. Titled 'Patriotism and shopping' the reader noted that the politicians calling for southerners to be 'patriotic' and not shop in the north are the very people who have fpr years been travelling to Britain to pump their Irish money into English and Scottish football clubs, leaving Irish clubs to struggling to survive.
What's the difference?
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/patriotism-and-shopping--lisbon-poll--generous-1559905.html

Foot.ie'er perhaps?!

[John83]

And 18 bottles of Carlsberg for £5.

Interesting letter to the Independent today. Titled 'Patriotism and shopping' the reader noted that the politicians calling for southerners to be 'patriotic' and not shop in the north are the very people who have fpr years been travelling to Britain to pump their Irish money into English and Scottish football clubs, leaving Irish clubs to struggling to survive.
What's the difference?

Hehe. Who wrote that one. Anyone on here?

[MariborKev]

we decided to head to londonderry for the day yesterday

Over 24 hours and no-one took the bait........:D

[SolitudeRed]

The simple solution is to cut prices in the south in order to compete even before sterling collapsed prices for a lot things down here seemed way too high and now it seems worse but maybe thats because I don't have an account down here and my money isn't going as far as it used to.:(

As for asda speaking as someone who used to work for them all I can say is that they are a b***ard of a company to work for and they can offer you cheaper prices by treating their staff and suppliers like s**t but hey thats what these supermarkets are all about unfortunately.

[bennocelt]

And 18 bottles of Carlsberg for £5.

?


jesus thats not bad:)

[Lionel Ritchie]

The only thing I used go across to Newry for was pint bottles of Newcastle brown ale. The were about STG1.60 from Curleys next to Dunnes.

I can get them now down here ...though for €3.20 in Carrickmacross or €3.50 in Limerick. (No ...I'm not telling where).

At that price I only get it in for special occasions where you need that extra push over the edge of oblivion.

[Sligo Hornet]

Both Tesco's and Sainsbury previously had 3 for 2 offer on 20 bottles of 284ml Stella for £20 ie 60 bottles - I now have close to 10 cases in the house.

"Please Hoard Responsibly";)

[ifk101]

Great deals on newspapers in NI. :D

I bought a couple of the Irish Sunday papers yesterday and I noticed it costs €2.5 in Ireland for the Sunday Independent but in Northern Ireland only £1.4. :confused:

[Ambaiste!]

My sister lived in Aberdeen for years and going over there was brilliant for shopping because the exchange rate was fixed at an old rate. Basically, the fixed rate would be at 67p to a euro but at the time the real rate was more like 80p to a euro. It was great. Everything over there was ridiculously cheaper, CD's being the major one.



Prices in the airport had a fixed rate. Say something was £2 in the airport, they'd have it priced as €3 if you paid in euros.

But the real exchange rate meant that £2 actually cost you €2.50. You see? 50c saving there alone.

:confused: So you paid €3 at the old (fixed) rate instead of €2.50 at the new (real) rate and you reckon you've made a saving of 50c?

Sounds like they saw you coming, frank! :D

[dcfcsteve]

The one guarantee with currencies is that they fluctuate.

You would think the Republic's government had no memory. Shoppers have been flowing in different directions across the border for as long as I can remember. It wasn't so long ago the queue was in the other direction - particularly for petrol. The border is littered on either side with the remnants of petrol stations that lead a may-fly existence, cashing-in whilst the border traffic went in their favour before dying as the tide turned. Where were the Ministerial quibbles whilst the South hoovered up petrol money form the north for the last five years ? :confused:

Inevitably at some point the pound will strengthen again. The Euro will probably weaken outright at some point as well. When that happens I look forward to Irish government Ministers manning the border and telling Northern Shoppers to go back and do the patriotic thing by shopping in their own communities. I mean, they couldn't po0ssibly be being hypocrital could they....

Meanwhile - a senior government minister continues the last Taioseach's habit of promoting the English footballing industry at the expense of the Irish one. Patriotism my arse.

[Newryrep]

The one guarantee with currencies is that they fluctuate.

You would think the Republic's government had no memory. Shoppers have been flowing in different directions across the border for as long as I can remember. It wasn't so long ago the queue was in the other direction - particularly for petrol. The border is littered on either side with the remnants of petrol stations that lead a may-fly existence, cashing-in whilst the border traffic went in their favour before dying as the tide turned. Where were the Ministerial quibbles whilst the South hoovered up petrol money form the north for the last five years ? :confused:

Inevitably at some point the pound will strengthen again. The Euro will probably weaken outright at some point as well. When that happens I look forward to Irish government Ministers manning the border and telling Northern Shoppers to go back and do the patriotic thing by shopping in their own communities. I mean, they couldn't po0ssibly be being hypocrital could they....

Meanwhile - a senior government minister continues the last Taioseach's habit of promoting the English footballing industry at the expense of the Irish one. Patriotism my arse.

Aye Steve, at least we can/could argue that it was our patriotic duty to undermine the state we were in :)

[superfrank]

:confused: So you paid €3 at the old (fixed) rate instead of €2.50 at the new (real) rate and you reckon you've made a saving of 50c?
I never actually bought anything in Aberdeen airport but, if I had, I would've paid in sterling because it was cheaper.

[DeNiro]

Anyone being in Newry recently? Are the bargains still good? Haven't been there in a while. A friend told me last week that he heard Sainsbury's are charging for parking now, anyone else hear that?

[holidaysong]

They are charging for parking alright but if you spend £10 or more parking is free.. My mother was up there shopping yesterday and seemed happy enough when she was telling me about some of the savings.

[Royal rover]

i borrowed 18000 of the bank in late 2006 - i moved back to england in 2007 - it's torture paying these b**tards back now -all my loan repayments are in sterling ,

[dahamsta]

What's that got to do with the price of eggs?

[Royal rover]

What's that got to do with the price of eggs?

it was made in reference to the current exchange rate between STG and EURO- hence i borrowed in euro not expecting sterling to fluctuate,

[Longfordian]

The mother goes up to Asda in Enniskillen a good bit, she's very happy with the savings to be made particularly on things like household stuff, meat and drink. She also feels a bit guilty about it when she hears about local supermarkerts struggling though she mostly shops in Aldi or Lidl anyway which are thriving.

[dahamsta]

it was made in reference to the current exchange rate between STG and EURO- hence i borrowed in euro not expecting sterling to fluctuate,Ah right. Well, to be fair, "rates may go down as well as up". The currency market is as always has been a very bad bet.

[ArdeeBhoy]

As far as I'm concerned, it is keeping the money 'in' Ireland !!

;)

[Macy]

Still don't think the savings were really worth the petrol and (more especially for me) time from Wickla. However, if we're within striking distance of the border we normally stock up. Apart from the obvious beer, the baby stuff is a lot cheaper (milk, nappies, wipes), and also hayfever tablets are only a fraction of the price. We'd normally do a general shop while we're there too, as it is much cheaper.

Conscience is 100% clear - we support local shops like the butcher, newsagent (basically a convenience store) and chemist (bar the hayfever tablets). The supermarket shop is just moving from one multinational (tesco) to another (ASDA/ Walmart). If Coughlan et al want us to do our patriotic duty, they should tackle the continuing profiteering of the multiples in this state.

[EAFC_rdfl]

was up home last week, got myself 110 euro (in tesco down here) worth of drink for 45 euro in asda strabane, absolute madness. also they are going euro for pound from early december til Christmas, then the mayhem will really begin

[DeNiro]

was up home last week, got myself 110 euro (in tesco down here) worth of drink for 45 euro in asda strabane, absolute madness. also they are going euro for pound from early december til Christmas, then the mayhem will really begin

Where did you hear that?

[brendy_éire]

Where did you hear that?

Loads of places in Derry already doing it.

[holidaysong]

places in Newry are doing it already too.

[old git]

check out asda here ..... http://www.asda.co.uk/corp/home.html

2 cases beer bottles for £ 16 stg usually go 3 for £ 20 stg for christmas ... smirnoff ice / wkd / bacardi brezzers 2 large bottles for £ 5

also was looking at prices for a good new printer for my computer argos here approx 110 euro same printer in north less than £ 44 stg

i'd have no problem shopping up north at those prices and even more now when they start matching stg for euro :D:D

[gilberto_eire]

You'd think the Goverment would finally get the finger out and drop excise and VAT to British levels, the amount of money leaving the country at a time like this is disgraceful

Was all well and good during the boom times when people were happy to over pay but the penny has dropped and it's now costing the economy even more

[dahamsta]

I'd imagine our high VAT (and VRT) rate is a trade off of sorts against our corporation tax rate. That's what you get as a member of the EU. A good a reason as any to leave.

[OneRedArmy]

I'd imagine our high VAT (and VRT) rate is a trade off of sorts against our corporation tax rate. That's what you get as a member of the EU. A good a reason as any to leave.The EU have actually argued against VRT.

[dahamsta]

Maybe in public.

[John83]

The EU have actually argued against VRT.
They're not fond of our corpo tax levels either.

[OneRedArmy]

Maybe in public.Evidence? I'd be surprised.


They're not fond of our corpo tax levels either.The same reason they are against our corporation tax is the reason they dislike VRT, namely standardisation. Which reduces tax arbitrage.

I don't necessarily agree with the EU position on tax standardisation, but it's somewhat of a moot point as out low rate is becoming increasing less relevant year on year for a multitude of reasons.

VRT, on the other hand is an absolute BS consumption-based tax which is indicative of the myopic short-termist attitude of sucessive governments. If you're taxing cars every moron knows you should target use.

[dahamsta]

Evidence? I'd be surprised.Evidence of what they're saying in public? Eh, what?

[holidaysong]

I was in Newry today. £1 for €1 in some shops, £0.90 for €1 in most of the others.

[Macy]

You'd think the Goverment would finally get the finger out and drop excise and VAT to British levels, the amount of money leaving the country at a time like this is disgraceful
I'd have zero faith in the multiples to pass on (the full) reductions*, and zero faith in their pals in Government coming up with a mechanism to make them+.

*For years the excuse for the higher prices was the exchange rate, since the exchange rate changed, it's now costs and wages.

+The Government could at least make the multiples publish their accounts for the state, so we can see the difference in margin. From leaks, Tesco have a margin of over 9% and aiming for higher in this state, whereas company wide their margin is under 6%. Link (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0511/1224246256045.html)

[OneRedArmy]

Evidence of what they're saying in public? Eh, what?
You alleged the EU were publicly against VRT, but privately supporting it. Thats completely unsupportable by its nature and is effectively a rumour?

A rumour that is completely contrary to tax harmonisation.

[dahamsta]

Tax harmonisation is all well and good, but if they were completely focused on it, we wouldn't have a corporation tax rate of 12.5% that is contrary to EU policy. The EU is a political organisation that makes deals, and VRT and our high VAT rate are part of that. Call it "rumour" if you like, it's as plain as the nose on your face to me.

[Ringo]

Often wondered why they don't have custom checks , Garda road blocks etc on the M1. I'm not saying its legal or fair, but long traffic Q's would discourage people shopping in Newry.

[brendy_éire]

Often wondered why they don't have custom checks , Garda road blocks etc on the M1. I'm not saying its legal or fair, but long traffic Q's would discourage people shopping in Newry.

That's a ridiculous idea. The amount of traffic on that road would make it a mad plans. There'd be hours of tailbacks.
Never minding the fact that no-ones breaking the law by shopping in the north.

[Ringo]

The idea would be create tail backs to stop people shopping there & get sales & vat reciepts up in the Republic. There not doing anything illegal by shopping in the north, but either would the Gardai or Customs be doing anything wrong.

[Macy]

Check points never stopped the cross border shopping when there were restrictions (both on travel, and on imports) so I wouldn't see it do much now.

Mind you, I'm sure Coughlan et al would like the idea - why address the profiterring when you can let your pals make hay whilst discomoding the public? I guess it's only a step away from the guilt trip attempts of now.

[sligobhoy67]

Lots of talk about it lately. What do you think? Living near the border, I personally have been going there for the past year or so, it's well worth it. Fair enough it doesn't do the Irish economy any good but looking after number one is the main thing and the savings that can be made there are massive.

What's your opinion on it?

There was me thinking that Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry was in Ireland!

Funny that Fianna Fail (the "republican" party) now refer to them as non Irish!

I also dont remember an issue when a few years ago there was ques of Northern Ireland registered car outside petrol stations in Louth, Cavan, Doegal etc