please empty your brain below
Where are you shopping that still uses .99?

Nothing in my recent shopping at Sainsbury's or Co-op has been a non-multiple of 5 pence (excepting things priced by weight).

Andrew | Homepage | 14.04.20 - 7:14 a.m. | #

Spent an amusing/depressing walk yesterday reading the notices in cafe windows explaining why they are closed. One wonders how many will actually reopen.

Kutgw | 14.04.20 - 7:15 a.m. | #

When I stayed near Bonn a few years ago the prices were all multiples of ten cents (but displayed to two places) but I saw values in between since on a trip to Heidelberg.

Sprout Eater | 14.04.20 - 7:23 a.m. | #

I hate that pricing format too. You’re right - it is pretentious.
The beer prices look more like the ABV percentages rather than prices!

Rob Healy | Homepage | 14.04.20 - 7:31 a.m. | #

As the pricelist doesn't actually specify pounds, where do they stand if you eat ten pieces of katsu nuggets with curry sauce and then offer to pay six pence, or six Albanian Lek, or, indeed, six pebbles?

Sarah | Homepage | 14.04.20 - 7:32 a.m. | #

But how many vegetable spring rolls (plural) do you get for 6?

popartist | 14.04.20 - 7:40 a.m. | #

I wonder if its legal not to display the currency, maybe the menus specify the currency in the small print.

It could be an interesting legal challenge considering its becoming more normal to be paying for stuff in different currencies using platforms like PayPal.

Still Anon | 14.04.20 - 7:50 a.m. | #

Pretentious? Certainly. Misleading? Probably.
But maybe a tad harsh to say these places are "preying" upon their customers. Like every other food outlet whatever it's location, they are servicing a demand at the maximum price their customer demographic will accept.

Frank F | 14.04.20 - 7:50 a.m. | #

In the Chop Shop I could argue that after ordering a portion of Korean chicken wings I should only pay 6 pence as no currency was specified on the menu and conventionally, the absence of trailing zeros would indicated these are indeed 'pence' prices.

TomH | 14.04.20 - 7:51 a.m. | #

However will we cope with this newfangled habit of not putting the pound sign next to prices?

Alex | 14.04.20 - 7:51 a.m. | #

I remember window displays with clothes priced in guineas - a similar effect, in that what at a glance looked like a £20 price tag actually cost £21. I think rather than masking price, the use guineas was considered to be a mark of quality.

Waterhouse | 14.04.20 - 8:05 a.m. | #

I wish I had a local shop that sold a crate of beer under a fiver.

As Pounds, Euros and Dollars are all now worth about the same, lack of currency symbol perhaps makes sense.

One theory about 99p is that it forced the shop assistant to ring the till to get the change rather than putting the money in their pocket.

kev | 14.04.20 - 8:10 a.m. | #

What does the vertical line mean where it replaces the £ sign on the menus?

Ian McNeil | 14.04.20 - 8:18 a.m. | #

Ian... It means : "Please eat elsewhere"

Joan | 14.04.20 - 8:24 a.m. | #

This method of displaying prices is terrible, also much loved of pretentious gastropubs. I won't order food if I see it marked in such a way.

Alex... none of those prices require a pound sign. 6d is very clear, also 1/6 was the way to show that something was 1 shilling and 6 sixpence, nowhere near a pound. Not being a decimal system at the time there was no need for decimal places either.

NPIan | 14.04.20 - 8:27 a.m. | #

As a matter of principle I will always refuse to enter any establishment which displays a menu in this ridiculous format. I instinctively know that everything about the place will be cringingly pretentious, the food overpriced and the quantity minuscule.

Bob S | 14.04.20 - 8:34 a.m. | #

Three organisations now inhabit glass boxes at the “International Quarter” - Cancer Research UK started moving in recently.

Don’t know about the other offices but I can confirm that the FCA has an excellent canteen, with a separate coffee shop and sandwich bar.

Signorelli’s does also, however, do excellent coffee and cakes.

dg writes: Latte 2.8, Carrot cake 3.8

James | 14.04.20 - 8:48 a.m. | #

Unless the full sign/menu states that the unit of pricing is a Pound Sterling, the local Trading Standards department might have a legitimate interest.

Totally agree with earlier comments about avoiding such places, but it also says something about the pretentious (hipster?) types with more money than sense who frequent them.

If Covid-19 does prove the death knell of some food outlets, I hope these fail first, good riddance!

J. | 14.04.20 - 9:04 a.m. | #

I'm more confused by the wines that cost 6.8 per glass being 26.0 per bottle while the one that is 7.0 per glass being 24.0 for the bottle

Ian | 14.04.20 - 9:15 a.m. | #

Some beer places (pubs?) have been doing this for a bit.

Lorenzo | 14.04.20 - 9:27 a.m. | #

I'm going from memory here so forgive me - but there’s usually some tiny, 1 point footnote on menus that says something like "all prices in pound sterling, VAT included at the prevailing rate".

dg writes: Not on these menus.

JJ | 14.04.20 - 9:27 a.m. | #

We have a mixed economy. Traders are free to set their prices as they wish, and display them as they wish. Buyers are free to choose the establishment based on price, price-format or any other criterion.

The law should only step in if there is market abuse (eg monopoly) or serious misleading. It has better things to do than lay down rules against hipsterism.

Malcolm | 14.04.20 - 9:57 a.m. | #

Of course some of these sorts of places were among the first to say card payment only. I always said you should avoid places like that as they're saying we don't want older / poorer card-less customers. Ironic now given it's now the healthier way to pay.

ap | 14.04.20 - 9:58 a.m. | #

When I worked for Virgin Megastores, the MD of the time (just before we became Zavvi) came up with idea of not using .99 but random numbers .57 .36 etc. The idea was that punters would think we'd cut the price to the bone!
It just meant we gave out large amounts of change.

Chris Tuft | 14.04.20 - 10:30 a.m. | #

A lot of these prices read more as scores, perhaps in an Olympic diving event.

Anon | 14.04.20 - 10:52 a.m. | #

Didn't trick me in any sort of way. I'll still avoid the restaurant, as with most others in the Olympic Park, too pricey.

PVR | 14.04.20 - 10:57 a.m. | #

As an Italian, would you please accept my most sincere&humble apologies? -__-

Daniele | 14.04.20 - 11:06 a.m. | #

‘Figo’ is also pretty vulgar Italian for ‘cool’. See rapper Bello Figo for example!

I’m not sure if it’s a chain, so it might look different in a more youthful location, say Camden market. But the idea of serving suited office workers in a restaurant called Figo feels a bit like a joke at their expense. You certainly wouldn’t get away with that in Milan.

A pair of italian restaurants in Wapping have taken this to extremes, Il Bordello and La Figa, respectively The Brothel and the C word. They’re awful, by the way.

Concerned | 14.04.20 - 11:54 a.m. | #

Not that I'd ever frequent somewhere like Signorelli's, but I'd be tempted to ask if the marks for their All Day Breakfasts were out of 5 or 10.

Plastic Man | 14.04.20 - 12:02 p.m. | #

It's the same over at North Greenwich (coincidentally near another TfL office). A delightful volunteer-run cafe on the Jetty that would sell you tea in an an enamel mug for £1 was taken over by a pretentious outfit which charged 11.5 for Eggs Royale. Again, even pre virus concerns the new operator wouldn't take cash, though with their prices I'd have been unlikely to have enough cash on me anyway.

Andrew S | 14.04.20 - 12:50 p.m. | #

I am absolutely fine with places displaying prices to 1 decimal place if it's clear what they've done. To me it's just another style choice.

But reading through the comments I'm feeling lonely in this view.

Alex T | 14.04.20 - 12:53 p.m. | #

In a similar vein, TV Times's style in the late 70s and early eighties was to abbreviate times on the hour to a single zero after the decimal point eg: 1.0 News at One, 7.0 Family Fortunes and 9.0 The Professionals. Other times included two 'minute' numbers. There was no am or pm either.

By the late '80s the style had changed to two 'minute numbers' after the decimal point and the inclusion of am or pm, so 5.00am ITN Morning News or 7.00pm Trading Places. Oddities included 6.00 TV-am and no time entry for News at One.

crouton | 14.04.20 - 1:18 p.m. | #

It's the lack of transparency regarding the beer units that I find the most misleading and irritating. Unless you know how many mL there are to a pint, you could easily order without realising just how bad a deal you're getting. As you've rightly pointed out DG.

dg writes: Listing a bottle's capacity in millilitres is entirely legal.

Sam | 14.04.20 - 1:47 p.m. | #

Irks me more than it should. And don't get me started on the 1£ you sometimes see around too. Or even 1,50£. I understand why the confusion can arise, but... grr...

Brad | 14.04.20 - 1:57 p.m. | #

In Colombia some businesses have started missing off the thousands (so writing $12 instead of $12.000 or $12000). Again it seems to be particularly prevalent in expensive bars and restaurants.

Here in HK prices are almost always given to 1d.p. although officially the HK dollar is divided into 100 cents. In English we talk about dollars and cents but in Chinese it's dollars and 'dimes' (毫), so a price might be read as one fifty in English but one point five in Chinese.

Alan | 14.04.20 - 2:08 p.m. | #

'All Day Breakfast' you say, never mind the hipster pricing, they should be done of trade description violations.

Chr0me | 14.04.20 - 4:25 p.m. | #

I refuse to use cafes, restaurants or bars that display prices in this way

GeoffL | 14.04.20 - 5:04 p.m. | #

The reason that these menus are displayed in the window is that it is a legal requirement to display the prices outside (so punters can get an idea of the cost before they're trapped inside).

I'd think that if they're not displaying the prices clearly, which would include stating the unit of currency in which they're priced, then they could well not be meeting that requirement. Even in normal times however, I suspect that trading standards departments have more pressing issues to deal with.

I quite fancy having a cafe and displaying my prices in Roman numerals.

Sarah | Homepage | 14.04.20 - 7:23 p.m. | #

It's not at all pretentious. It's cheaper! Why pay to print hundreds of times, all those 0s that mean absolutely nothing?

As for the nonsense about refusing to use restuarants that use it.. Well.. xox! This really just all about that same old nasty class system that hinders the U.K. getting on in most things in life. Reverse snobbery, where those who are suddenly made aware of their status within that system, get narky. This is a symptom of that.

VOTE to change the system instead of whinging! Greetings from abroad!

Steve | Homepage | 14.04.20 - 8:07 p.m. | #

I chuckle at those who refuse to eat at places with pricing presented to one decimal place. Get over it. You either think the price is reasonable for what you get and where you are or you don't.

It is not difficult to understand and just another new modern way of life just like using emojis to communicate. Life changes, adapt, embrace!

Bobby McFerrin | 14.04.20 - 8:23 p.m. | #

Figures quoted as Calories are actually Kilocalories but those who insist on counting them don't seem to care that they are wrong by 1000 times.

kev | 14.04.20 - 8:47 p.m. | #

The UK unit of currency is the pound sterling so if no unit is shown then I'd say it's safe to assume it's priced in pounds - it doesn't feel like there's any lack of clarity.

It does look weird to see prices to only 1 decimal place but I can't imagine that that would ever stop me eating in a restaurant - if the menu looks promising and the prices aren't stupidly high then I'm not going to be put off by the formatting of numbers :-)

Pricing in whole pounds does suggest inflexibility but I imagine you can just adjust the portion size down a bit rather than adding a few pence to the price.

Restaurants elsewhere in Europe often show the weight of a dish -this helps you to check if the price has remained the same but the portion size has changed.

Steve Rochford | 14.04.20 - 9:02 p.m. | #

Wot a loada
Six-zero-one-one-zero-ten, the last being a roman numeral.

JP | 14.04.20 - 11:26 p.m. | #

The slash in “1/6” was not just a separator but a stylised representation of the letter s for solidus = shilling, similar to the use of £ as stylised L (libra = pound) and plain but bemusing d (denarius = penny): borrowed Roman abbreviations to represent British currency; of which the £ (mostly) endures.

The Decimal Currency Board were keen to satisfy tidy minds as well as mathematicians by having two decimals shown whenever pounds were mixed with pence; yet also satisfying traditionalists by showing the p so the pence were as much a unit as a fraction. Hence never £1.5p, and rarely 105p, but £1.05p on price labels until shoppers became confident enough to comprehend £1.05 without the trailing hint of (new) pence.

Rich G | Homepage | 15.04.20 - 12:00 a.m. | #

Generally currencies whose units equate to ten pence or less (e.g. HK Dollar) have long removed the decimal even if decimal coins are still around.

But doing this to the pound sterling seems a bit crazy.

Patrickov | 15.04.20 - 4:38 a.m. | #

My recollection of decimalisation is that £1.05p was specifically banned as not being clear whether it meant £1.05 or 1.05p. Has anyone got a leaflet?

dg writes: the 'leaflet' used £ or p, not both.

Michael | 15.04.20 - 5:35 a.m. | #

Yes, thank you.

I started looking in The Observer for the day before. It has 'From next Sunday the price of THE OBSERVER will be rounded down to 6p (6½p in the Irish Republic). The charge made by newsagents for delivering the Colour Magazine will become ½p.'

Page 19 of Your Guide to Decimal Money says The £ sign and the p sign are not used together; £9.20 is correct, not £9.20p

If only we had been brave enough to get metrication over and done in one day.

Michael | 15.04.20 - 8:45 a.m. | #

A shop which has substantial takings in cash probably saves money by pricing to whole pounds only, if they only need to have pound coins in change.

I suspect enough people would pay the exact amount that they may not even need to obtain change from banks.

Perhaps this would also be the case if pricing in 50p increments.

John | 15.04.20 - 5:52 p.m. | #

It is already a done deal in Australia and seen often, although I don't recall seeing single numerals on menus. Something like this would normally annoy me but in this case, it doesn't.

Andrew | Homepage | 16.04.20 - 9:30 a.m. | #

I wonder whether you could claim that "8.5" means "eight pounds and five pence".

The use of internal leading zeroes is fairly recent in the UK, only starting with decimalisation for currency and even more recently for time; in a 1980s edition of the Radio Times 8.5 would be five past eight.

ILZ | 17.04.20 - 8:41 p.m. | #











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