>>I remember Holland (well Amsterdam) to be rather expensive anyway. Back in the 80's, as a struggling graduate (with a mortgage, mind), I remember staying in backpacker hotels and gazing longingly through the windows of bars, wishing I could afford a beer! That was at c 5G = £1 I think (so 2 - 2.50 guilders for fries or a beer now sounds cheap). Now you say it's c. 1.75 € a beer? At c. 1€ = c. £0.67, a beer would cost c. £1.18, which sounds quite cheap to me! Maybe my recollections or maths are all to cock.
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>I guess you were gazing through the windows in the red light district?! :)

With my girlfriend with me I couldn't do too much of that sort of gazing! :-)
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>Beer prices in the Amsterdam tourist section are still the equivalent of 5 guilders. Same in discotheques and the like. But in a regular inn it is the price I said. Is it that high (£1.18) everywhere in GB?

Is it that high?! I said that would be cheap. Depends if you're talking about a bottle, half a pint of a pint. You'd be lucky to get a bottle of Heineken for under £2, and a pint of it, at least in the South, where I live, is like £2.80. We get used to handing over £10 notes and getting just a few coins in change at a pub. But when I went up to Liverpool last year, I was doing the same, and ended the night with my pockets weighed down with pound coins! It's so much cheaper there.

A bag of chips (fries) costs about £1. Cigarettes are astronomical (I don't smoke them) but I believe c £5 a pack, but most of that is duty.

Terry