North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Trussflation has taken a couple of years to work through. Many mortgages are so much more expensive and households may be able to absorb costs for a while, but persistent higher rates take a toll.

Paying £17 for a pizza and £7.45 for a beer in the example illustrates the cost problem.

With heating oil going up by 140%, many rural families will be feeling the pinch.

 

I also read that this morning and it's a hard dose of reality. £17 for a pizza!! My wife was shocked.
Here in our local pizzeria we get a multi topping pizza, two beers and dessert for that price.
I'd love to take the family for days out in the UK, but we really can't afford it.
I don't think it will be only the NYMR that feels the effect.

 

I notice it didn't stop one of the families buying beer and wine with their meal (or perhaps they just figure, since someone else if paying . . . )

 

Seems to be around average price for a Pizza it seems having had a quick look at both Swanage and Wareham. As my wife is now dairy intolerant and most Pizza places only offer goats cheese (which she hates) as an option something we never do these days.
£7.45 for a beer looked quite competitive for one place I looked at.

 

The general point is I am sure well made though I noted they went to Pizza Express, which in my experience has become quite expensive for what it is - there are other mid-market pizzarias that are rather cheaper, particularly if you sign up with a loyalty programme. We went to Zizzi the other day and two adults, two children, with drinks, was about £74 including a tip, which is rather more reasonable than the claimed £174.

(I also note that they went out with kids but seemed to have purchased separate starter / main / desert for their kids - most of those restaurants do a kids menu that would have been much cheaper; for Pizza Express it is £8.50 per child to get what appears to have instead cost them about £13 for one child; and the other has apparently had an adult pizza).

Tom

 

They're only on the menu (which means they have to be stocked, requiring storage space - overhead - as well as prior purchase, so they can be served when ordered) because there is demand. So there must be demand.

Noel

 

As a family we enjoy eating out, and we do eat out when we can... but we're definitely doing it less than we were 2-3 years ago, and the cost is a large part of that. It's not just 'can't justify the cost', it's that on top of the increase in the regular food shopping, council tax, utilities, fuel and insurance for the car and all the other nonsense modern life requires us to pay for. And we're lucky, having fixed our mortgage not long before Truss and her infamous budget. I'd class us as 'middle income' and honestly, I don't know how lower income families are coping.

 

My local sells its pizzas at £12-13 depending on what and a pint of bitter at £4.20. £7.50 for a pint is for down south.

 

If you ask me, £12-13 for a thin bread crust with a smear of tomato paste, a bit of grated cheese and some thinly sliced salami on top is still rather a lot! Even a portion of fish & chips doesn't normally cost that much. The bitter at £4.20/pint sounds reasonable, though!

 

Has there been any physical work carried out in supporting the bridge at Grosmont?

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Fish (Haddock) and small chips is £8.50 in my nearest chippy. (Ordinary chips is too large a portion.) I can get it for less but have to do a 5 mile round trip.
Anyhow, getting back on topic, the vibes I'm getting are that the bridge propping contract has not yet been let although what is actually happening appears to be a closely guarded secret that even staff on the ground don't know about. However, I have been told that the Railway might not open fully until as late as June. If the tracks have to be lifted to allow crane access and then everything re-instated I can see that being more than likely. The Thomas event at the end of May and attractions being based on Pickering and lack of through trains to Whitby seems to support that scenario. Whether it can survive that long on a reduced income stream remains to be seen.
Pure speculation by me, I might add.

 

Presumably the possible June reopening figure is just going to be post-propping (though it is hard, for me at least, to see why the track and S&T all need to be removed for the propping work). It really seems, though, as if income is going to take a very big hit, and I continue to wonder how all the paid staff can continue to be paid. The secrecy over what is really happening, though, really perplexes me - how can the management really continue to ask for financial support without telling potential supporters anything much about what is going on? I've previously described them as incompetent, but I'm afraid I feel the need now to qualify that to "grossly incompetent" - and the Trust Board is just as bad for seemingly doing nothing to hold them to account.

 

Last week we removed the point rodding crossing the tracks between the station and the bridge so the large crane does not damage it. Hopefully it will avoid the cranks, roller bases etc! Survey markers have been placed in the track and on the bridge, I assume to monitor movement when the propping takes place. I gather much of the track from the station to the tunnel will be replaced when the bridge repairs are done.

 

At least the NYMR is cheaper than other local attractions...



On the day prices for Flamingo Land. If bought in advance, £30 during term time, £46 during school holidays.

 

And therein lies the rub. Get real folk. Railways are actually cheap in the eyes of many punters