Quote:
Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel
well, we do that too sometimes ; we call it an apéro. 
wow, cigarettes are even more expensive there ! the irony is, here they are expensive, but in most neighboring countries they are a lot cheaper (spain, belgium...) ; so a lot of people living near the border just cross over, buy a carton, and come back. |
Expensive if you buy them legally. You can walk into any of the still-remaining pubs and buy most cigarettes, tobacco and alchol at significant savings, also you can pick up any recently released CD, DVD or software, plus electrical goods and lots of other things. The grey market has exploded over here in the last few years, to staggering levels. You'll see thieves and coppers side by side buying the same goods from the same people. A blind eye is turned to the whole affair.
A pack of 20 cigarettes is around £5 ($7, €6) but in the pubs you can pick them up for £2.50 or thereabouts.
By the by, I'm in the North West, not far from Liverpool