Evening meal allowance - London

[Panamax]

Countdown said:

She also said King's Cross was a dodgy area full of prostitutes.

She was right.

Also, £35 ain't much cash for an evening meal in London. Essentially £31 of menu price before the 12.5% service charge gets added. Unless you drink only tap water you'll need to be eating "the cheapest food available" which doesn't sound much of a substitute for being at home.

[matrignano]

Countdown said:

She also said King's Cross was a dodgy area full of prostitutes - I'm not sure how true that is and I didn't want to go into too much detail.

That was true 12 years ago, not since Google et al moved in

[StevieBee]

Countdown said:

Our limit is £35 but we've had quite a few people suggesting it's out of date and should be nearer to £60 per person

£60 is too much.

Larch Restaurant (Top of the Walkie Talkie Building): Calamari, King Prawn Gnocchi and a large glass of Cabernet Sauvignon: £42.00. I can't recall the name of the restaurant but had a delicious pizza and chips at one in Covent Garden which come in at less than £20 including a glass of Coke.

If people are struggling to find an evening meal in London, equitable to what they'd have at home for less than £35 I would suggest some pee is being taken.

[Giantt]

Countdown said:

JerseyRoyal said:

Are there no Spoons in London? £35 will get you dinner for a week

I might have mentioned it before but we had a PR Director who point-blank refused to stay in Travelodges in London "because they were full of builders and Eastern European types who'd perv at her whilst she had breakfast".

She also said King's Cross was a dodgy area full of prostitutes - I'm not sure how true that is and I didn't want to go into too much detail.

Based on my experience of travelkennel,prem inns,I'd say she was correct,also before COVID I noticed standards declining,these days I prefer to work more locally or stay in small pubs.
£35 buy you a week of dinner at Witherspoon? Hardly,£12+ for most main n drink central London prices,plus I reckon you'd soon get bored.

[Countdown]

Panamax said:

Also, £35 ain't much cash for an evening meal in London. Essentially £31 of menu price before the 12.5% service charge gets added. Unless you drink only tap water you'll need to be eating "the cheapest food available" which doesn't sound much of a substitute for being at home.

I normally stay close to Euston and the ones I normally go to are

Carluccio's near St Pancras
Agra on Whitfield Street
Steak & Lobster near Warren Street
Prezzo near Euston

I'm not into fine dining so I don't know where the above rank on the scale of "Povvo Chav" to "PBPHD standard" but they all seemed ok to me and well within the £35ph allowance.

ETA we don't allow alcohol unless it's a client meeting.

[Panamax]

Countdown said:

Steak & Lobster near Warren Street

I just had a glance at the S&L menu and note their cheapest steak is £26 plus another £3 if you want sauce with it. Desserts at about £10. All plus 12.5% service charge, so £40 to £44 with a glass of water.

I'm struggling to see how dinner would fit a £35 budget.

They do say, "Our set menu is available as a two-course at £29 or three-course at £35 per guest", although it's NOT available between 6.30 pm and 9.15 pm.

[TriumphStag3.0V8]

matrignano said:

QuartzDad said:

Our global policy is batst crazy, there is a 100 page pdf listing random towns/cities/regions with max hotel rates such as

Berkshire £66
Coventry £106
Edgware £110
England £88
Heathrow £87
London £125
Salford £144
Wembley £155
Milton Keynes £181
Rotherham £38
Middlesex £42

Salford has a larger allowance than London?

£181 for Milton Keynes???? You would have to pay me to stay there! LOL at Rotherham for £38

[DanL]

Panamax said:

Countdown said:

Steak & Lobster near Warren Street

I just had a glance at the S&L menu and note their cheapest steak is £26 plus another £3 if you want sauce with it. Desserts at about £10. All plus 12.5% service charge, so £40 to £44 with a glass of water.

I'm struggling to see how dinner would fit a £35 budget.

They do say, "Our set menu is available as a two-course at £29 or three-course at £35 per guest", although it's NOT available between 6.30 pm and 9.15 pm.

Fairly obviously, I’d say you don’t pick the steak!

[LeeM135i]

Ours has been slowly reducing, it was £35 before Covid and is now £20 for food and £5 for an alcoholic beverage regardless of where we stay.

Its changed a number of times over the last 8 years, mostly due to our service and maintenance engineers getting drunk and causing chaos. Originally it was open, spend your £35 on what you wanted and the engineers would go to Tesco, get a meal deal and a couple of packs of beer. It then changed to one alcoholic beverage so they changed to a Tesco meal deal and a bottle of vodka. Its all good fun until they turned up to site hungover the following day and the job got done badly or the site H&S refused to let them on site.

It doesn't bother me too much as you can get a very unexciting chain restaurant meal for the £25 allowance.

Most of us refuse to travel now as they have done similar with the hotel budget so it's a shady Holiday Inn or Travel Lodge at best which is OK for the odd night here and there but I used to travel 3 nights a week and it just got depressing.

[JerseyRoyal]

Who’s spending £30 on a burger and chips often enough for it to be a concern for expenses?

I’d say people need to lower their expectations rather than raise the expense limit .

[plenty]

Countdown said:

She also said King's Cross was a dodgy area full of prostitutes.

In the '90s, yes. Today it's one of the most gentrified parts of the city, full of well-dressed types, glass and chrome.

[BigBen]

shirt said:

you don’t eat 3 course meals at home so shouldn’t expect it when away.

But I sleep with a woman at home so should the company cover that when I am away? I am not up on the price of such services but I suspect they would be cheaper just upping the meal budget.

[Alickadoo]

JerseyRoyal said:

Are there no Spoons in London? £35 will get you dinner for a week

Eggzackly what I was thinking.

[EW109]

Countdown said:

Panamax said:

Also, £35 ain't much cash for an evening meal in London. Essentially £31 of menu price before the 12.5% service charge gets added. Unless you drink only tap water you'll need to be eating "the cheapest food available" which doesn't sound much of a substitute for being at home.

I normally stay close to Euston and the ones I normally go to are

Carluccio's near St Pancras
Agra on Whitfield Street
Steak & Lobster near Warren Street
Prezzo near Euston

I'm not into fine dining so I don't know where the above rank on the scale of "Povvo Chav" to "PBPHD standard" but they all seemed ok to me and well within the £35ph allowance.

ETA we don't allow alcohol unless it's a client meeting.

Can I recommend you try Santore on Exmouth Market? Very good (ie, real Italian) pizza -- and not expensive.

[Sporky]

DanL said:

Panamax said:

Countdown said:

Steak & Lobster near Warren Street

I just had a glance at the S&L menu and note their cheapest steak is £26 plus another £3 if you want sauce with it. Desserts at about £10. All plus 12.5% service charge, so £40 to £44 with a glass of water.

I'm struggling to see how dinner would fit a £35 budget.

They do say, "Our set menu is available as a two-course at £29 or three-course at £35 per guest", although it's NOT available between 6.30 pm and 9.15 pm.

Fairly obviously, I’d say you don’t pick the steak!

Is the lobster cheaper?

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Plenty of Greggs in London. A few quid for a steak bake, bag of crisps and a bottle then back to the hotel for a wk.

[lrdisco]

The company I work for has ZERO meal allowance. It’s Premier inns all the way and you do get breakfast but that’s it.
I will not travel for this company.

[CheesecakeRunner]

We get £30 for evening meal, it can include alcohol but not be majority booze. It been that forever, and we get regular moans about it. £35 might be more appropriate these days, but I’ve never had a problem with it covering a meal in central London and I’m there a lot. Yes, it won’t pay for a flash meal, and I’ll often forgo booze but it’ll do the job. You’re away for work, not a city break holiday. It’s meant to sustain you, that’s all.

In fact, most of the time I book “aparthotels” so I have cooking facilities and go to the supermarket. 30 quid goes a long way then.

[WhiskyDisco]

Are these unreceipted expenses of £35 a night? or do you have to submit receipts too? You could buy a loaf of bread and some nice bits from M&S that could keep you going for a few days. Make your own sandwiches and claim the lunch allowance too.

I'm working out in Stockholm.

According to HMRC when travelling to Stockholm for work, the max amount that can be claimed as unreceipted expenses, covering hotel, food and travel to the office is £220 for each 24 hour period.

I stay in the cheapest non-dorm accomodation for £42 a night, drink coffee for free at the client, eat at the staff canteen and once a week treat myself to a pizza or kebab. I might spend £60-£70 in that 24 hours, £100 if I have a beer.

I work for myself so I reason that I "make" £100-£120 a day tax free from this.

[boyse7en]

WhiskyDisco said:

Are these unreceipted expenses of £35 a night? or do you have to submit receipts too? You could buy a loaf of bread and some nice bits from M&S that could keep you going for a few days. Make your own sandwiches and claim the lunch allowance too.

I'm working out in Stockholm.

According to HMRC when travelling to Stockholm for work, the max amount that can be claimed as unreceipted expenses, covering hotel, food and travel to the office is £220 for each 24 hour period.

I stay in the cheapest non-dorm accomodation for £42 a night, drink coffee for free at the client, eat at the staff canteen and once a week treat myself to a pizza or kebab. I might spend £60-£70 in that 24 hours, £100 if I have a beer.

I work for myself so I reason that I "make" £100-£120 a day tax free from this.

I didn't know there was such a thing as "unreceipted expenses". I have t get a receipt for everything if i need to claim it back, which can be a right PITA at times. Try getting a VAT receipt out of a burger van!

Anyway, back to the OP. Last time i was in London i got a curry and a pint in Shoreditch for about £20. £35 should easily get a meal somewhere.