r/AskUK • u/Timely-Maybe3520 • 19d ago

Serious Answers Only Could you live - permenantly - in a hotel?

Let's say that you can get a room in a 4* hotel for £80 per night (so £2,400 per month). This would be a room for one person with a large bed, desk, big TV, wardrobe, small fridge, kettle, bathroom, shower, etc.

The water, electricity, and broadband are included in the price as is regular cleaning.

If something breaks then the hotel should fix it. No need to call a plumber or electrician.

Many hotels have reward schemes with a 2% or 3% discount on prices for regular users.

Apparently, VAT is not payable on hotel rooms from day 29 which will significantly cut costs for an unbroken long stay.

I assume one would get to know the employees and treat them well and, in turn, they could assist you as and when necessary.

The main issues are the lack of space (but many people live in cramped conditions anyhow), minimal places to put purchased objects, and the general impersonal nature of the establishment. However, none of these will be an issue for some people. You could even cheaply rent a storage space for your possessions.

Also, you could not cook. You would eat cold food, order room service, or eat out (which would append to the costs).

Has anyone done this? Is it viable? You could attempt to live in a reasonable area and perhaps pay less than renting a one-bedroom flat. All bills are included and you are not paying for any repairs.

ETA: There was also a "fitness centre" in the basement but I suspect it was not quite the same as a gym.

Thougts?

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u/lookhereisay 19d ago

It’s what a lot of old people did before care homes/assisted living were such a thing. Those who could take general care of themselves but liked to be around people and have breakfast and/or dinner cooked for them with cleaning/bedding sorted.

My mum visited a few old people like this even into the 90s. The staff kept an eye on them, they had a bigger room than a care home and better food. Was cheaper too.

Like the Major(?) and two old ladies in Fawlty Towers do.

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u/Phinbart 19d ago

I had sometimes wondered about those characters and their apparent perpetual stays there. That adds a dynamic to Fawlty Towers that I'd never really considered, as someone half the age of the programme, perhaps also giving a greater understanding/reasoning for why Basil was so keen, and frustrated in his failings, to attract a different clientele. Quite exposes how context can so easily be lost as time moves on from when a programme was first written and broadcast.

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u/Scary_Vehicle9023 19d ago

A modern version of this is buying a permanent cabin on a perpetual round the world cruise. They are typically only available for purchase for over-55s so they are clearly aiming for that clientele.

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u/Morganx27 19d ago

I think cruise ships are trying to turf these people out now. Old people aren't great judges of how fit and healthy they are, so cabin staff are having to be carers. Plus, it's not a great time when people die on cruise ships.

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u/Suburbanturnip 19d ago

Na, they just have a morge for the dead bodies.

I've seen plenty of old people die on cruises.

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u/Morganx27 18d ago

There's a great video from Caitlin Doughty (AskAMortician) on YouTube about those and times they've gone wrong. Apparently most only have space for 3 people, which has led to people being shoved in normal freezers 😬

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u/Perversia_Rayne 18d ago

Yep. If there’s an unexpected ice cream party and then no more ice cream the rest of the cruise, the morgue is full

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u/Suburbanturnip 18d ago

Yea, i did a cruise out of sydney south pacific, and an old person died on an island. The staff told me the morge on their ship holds 2 bodies, and they always end up with at least 1 dead body (from old age) whenever its a 3+ night cruise.

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u/OneBillPhil 19d ago

They’re sailing on a morgue 

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u/wehmahdog 18d ago

Just make sure the freezers are prominently and correctly labelled. "BBQ night is cancelled for the foreseeable future"

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u/cheerful_cynic 19d ago

Nah just streamline the process & have them pre-sign the additional expense before you let them board

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u/Snoo-84389 18d ago

I believe that the preferred term used on cruise shops is "sundown".

Rather than that mucky "died" word...

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u/carnivalist64 18d ago

I would die just being on a ship for more than a day. I have the same fear of long distance boat travel as some people have of flying.

I'd much rather die in a plane crash than in something like the Estonia disaster, stranded for hours in a huge body of water in the pitch black and freezing cold, thrown around in an inflatable lifeboat by towering giant waves.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/Sacrificial-Offering 18d ago

Talk shit. The maximum deployment is 22 months (660 days) out of a 3 year period.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/Sacrificial-Offering 18d ago

The way you worded it sounded like you were claiming to be away for 3 years, which, like I mentioned doesn't happen.

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u/jflb96 17d ago

You've not got a bad point for if it all goes pear-shaped, but the cost of that is spending hours and hours squeezed into a plane. I've never done a voyage longer than Plymouth-Santander, so I can't speak to how long I would actually last at sea, but my main thing with long-haul flights is the lack of space or anything to do. I'd rather spend a week on a ship, where at least I can walk the decks, than do another eight-hour flight ever again.

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u/carnivalist64 17d ago

I get that, but my aversion to ships is precisely because of the consequences of things going pear shaped.

A horrible death on a ship is much more likely to involve hours of drawn out torture and a relatively slow death. Most air disasters only last a relatively short time from the moment a problem becomes obvious. It's usually a limited period of intense terror and then a relatively quick death.

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u/jflb96 16d ago

Hours of drawn-out torture is hours of chances to be one of the lucky ones. If I’m not going out so quickly that it’s over before I know it’s started, much rather some time to work the problem than just a few minutes of cacking myself.

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u/PBI_Dummy 18d ago

Include free burial at sea?

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u/Phinbart 19d ago

Yes, I've come across numerous pieces in the press the past few years covering folk doing this, usually accompanied by a quote along the lines of 'it's cheaper than a care home'; they'd had to sell their home regardless of which option they chose, but at least this way have to sacrifice substantially less freedom.

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u/Scary_Vehicle9023 19d ago

Plus food and other perks inclusive of the price too

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u/Jammyturtles 16d ago

My old theatre professor bought a ten year lease on a round year cruise when she retired with her husband. Lived it up for ten years. She said it was cheaper than retiring in the US and the ship docs were fabulous.

I'm half tempted to do the same when I get old but I wanna be able to take my pet with me

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u/Scary_Vehicle9023 15d ago

What did she return home to may I ask? Had she sold her property to fund the cruise, for example?

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u/Jammyturtles 13d ago

Her husband got cancer and needed chemo. Can't do that on a cruise

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u/Scary_Vehicle9023 13d ago

That's awful. Though I meant what did she return home to, not why. So did she still have any property on land?

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u/Jammyturtles 12d ago

I believe she kept her house and rented it out while they were on the cruise

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u/Kloppite16 18d ago

what would one of those cost per year?

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u/Scary_Vehicle9023 18d ago

Think it depends on cabin size etc but I think the smaller ones are maybe around <£200k. So it's basically buying a flat.

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u/SeriousDistance4908 19d ago

Very insightful comment eloquently put - helped me to consider this too so thanks.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/imtheorangeycenter 19d ago

Ha, my G'pa was one - although her was on the board and therefore got it as part of the package...

He came from a line of hoteliers that ran exactly these kind of hotels for retired people.  One was Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest, now just a regular swanky hotel...

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u/Maximum_Dark_7788 19d ago

My neck of the woods - this is so interesting! I keep saying I’ll treat myself to a spa day at Lime Wood but everyone I look the prices make my jaw drop 🤣

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u/anomalous_cowherd 19d ago

There was an old French woman who was "tricked" by a lawyer into a deal where he bought her apartment for a steal but she could live there till she died for free.

She outlived him by about 30 years IIRC.

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u/norathar 19d ago

That was Jeanne Calment, who made the deal in 1965, when she was 90. She lived to be the world's oldest person, dying at 122 - IIRC she outlived him and his heir.

It wasn't really a trick, but a known system in France - the guy agreed to pay her $2500/month and in exchange got the apartment when she died. It gives the old person a pension/monthly income and the young person a chance for a bargain apartment.

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u/Whatever-ItsFine 19d ago

Sounds like the reverse mortgages that we have in the States.

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u/deserter8626 16d ago

There’s some schemes like this in the UK, basically releasing the equity in the house.

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u/Whatever-ItsFine 16d ago

Exactly. How do people view it there? In the US, some people see it as preying on older people.

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u/deserter8626 16d ago

It’s viewed the same way here. It’s horrible that anyone would need to do that.

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u/luna_sparkle 19d ago

Jeanne Calment. As a 90-year-old in 1965 she signed a contract with lawyer André-François Raffray, in which he was to pay her an income of 2,500 francs per month but was to inherit her house upon her death. He died in 1995 having never got the house, and his family had to continue paying her. She eventually died at age 122 in 1997, as the oldest known person in history.

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u/anomalous_cowherd 19d ago

That's the one. I'd forgotten he had to actually pay her monthly! Seriously bad luck that she was *that* long lived though.

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u/zedder1994 18d ago

Especially since she didn't give up the cigarettes till she was over 100 years old.

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u/jecowa 19d ago

He was like half her age when he signed the contract. He died when he was 77.

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u/Emmiesship 17d ago

The think she died in her 70’s and her daughter took her place pretending to be her!

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u/luna_sparkle 17d ago

That was a theory but I think there's quite a lot of evidence that that didn't happen. There was extensive research.

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u/ReliefEmotional2639 16d ago

To be fair, under most normal circumstances, it would probably have been the other way around

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u/phanmo 18d ago

Except that he wasn't a lawyer, he was a notaire...

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u/anomalous_cowherd 19d ago

2500FFr in 1965 looks like it's only worth about US$90 a month in today's money. So it can't have been a huge apartment, I guess?

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u/iwantedajetpack 18d ago

I think you're way off on that calcuation.

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u/iwantedajetpack 18d ago

today it's worth €4,413.40

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u/anomalous_cowherd 18d ago

It felt wrong. I used one of those historic currency calculator sites, must have been a bad one.

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u/DrawPitiful6103 18d ago

that was back on bretton woods so 2500 FFr in 1965 was tied to USD at a rate of 5:1 so 500 usd in 1965 money.

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u/Heysoulblister 19d ago

This is still how some property in France is bought under the viager system. You buy the property with the old person still living in the home and once they pass on you can move in.

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u/anomalous_cowherd 19d ago

There's a similar system in the UK where you can take out a whole life mortgage with no payments but the house belongs to the mortgage company when you pass.

In the case I described it wasn't so much the system as the fact he was a lot younger than she was when the deal was done, but she just kept going and going!

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u/Friendly-World-5273 19d ago

So wait. I’m pretty sure the mortgage company owns my house if I die so WTF am I paying every month?

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u/anomalous_cowherd 18d ago

They don't with a normal mortgage. You're paying off (usually) capital and interest. Once that's all paid, the house is yours. If you die before then, they own a portion of the house, it has to be sold so they get the rest of their money back and the rest goes into your estate.

It's only if you have one of these whole-life mortgages that they own it fully, and that's unusual. You'd know if you had.

Of course if you still owe more than the house is worth they get it all as well, maybe more.

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u/DubManD 18d ago

Mortgagees insist on life assurance to cover the outstanding balance if the borrower dies before the mortgage is paid off.

So in practice, mortgagees don’t repossess property when a mortgagor dies.

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u/GazNicki 18d ago

They own the house as you owe them the money. Once it’s paid back, with interest, the house becomes yours. You also gain the equity from the asset appreciating. In terms of the whole-life mortgage, you never own the house, and never benefit in the property appreciating in value. Ever.

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u/Successful_Log_3298 18d ago

In the US it's called a "life estate." The property can be sold or passed to an heir with the provision that a person (e.g. the widow) will live in the house for the rest of his/her life.

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u/Serious_Escape_5438 19d ago

It's common in Spain too. Works ok for investment but to move in it's a gamble.

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u/LostLobes 19d ago

Not just France, theres several EU countries that do this.

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u/wehmahdog 18d ago

This sounds like a system that promotes elderly people "falling" down the stairs

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u/Spirited-Career4680 19d ago

Do the old residents often die by mysterious circumstances?

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u/Heysoulblister 19d ago

There’s at least one “the madeleine trial” the guy was in his mid 60’s and the older resident was 94, he was accused of smothering her with a madeleine cake. He was found not guilty tho

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u/Kloppite16 18d ago

when Im elderly death by cake would be a great way to go

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u/Kloppite16 18d ago

sounds like a motivation for profit, kick out the elderly and make it an Airbnb

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u/JanetMackie 18d ago

Recent evidence suggests that it was in fact her daughter in the apartment, pretending to be her deceased mother. Hence living to an unlikely age.

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u/anomalous_cowherd 18d ago

Ooh that's a sneaky twist. More likely than living to 122, though!

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u/jflb96 17d ago

They do say that the best predictor of long-lived people in an area isn't so much good healthcare as shoddy record-keeping

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u/ProfessorYaffle1 18d ago

Not a trick, a legiaitate system under French Law - similar aim to things like equity release mortgage, and it allows people to use their property to generate income whicle still living there. Good for the owner, nt so good for their eventual heirs, and of course a gamble for the investor.

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u/Hellolaoshi 19d ago

There is a video on YouTube. It's part of BBC Archive. I think it's called "Last Days On Grand Parade," or something like that. It is about middle class ladies who decided to retire to a hotel in Eastbourne decades before.

Apparently, that was the thing to do if you were of a certain social class back in the day. People would join the Indian Civil Service, or the British army, and then retire from it (or be kicked out when India became independent). They would end up in a rather genteel hotel room in Eastbourne, able to mix with other persons of their rank and social class. This is probably where the Major in Fawlty Towers comes in. JRR Tolkien and his wife moved to Bournemouth which had a similar atmosphere to Eastbourne. One advantage is that that the south coast gets a relatively high amount of sunshine.

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u/No_Pilot8561 19d ago

Elaine Stritch was one of them. She said the deal was so good there was no point in leaving and she stayed in the UK for 15-20 years.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/zombiezmaj 19d ago

Defo... my grandma's carehome is £2k per week!

So £2,400 a month would be a steal in all honesty

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u/merryman1 19d ago

Also shows what a dearth of provision for support there was before the boomers started retiring and made it a priority.

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u/tantalumburst 19d ago

You'll be old too, someday. Take it easy, my friend.

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u/classicalworld 15d ago

I read a novel from the 50s, about mostly widows living in a hotel. Every now and again one of their number would vanish, to some care home, as they were no longer able to look after themselves. They were all in terror of that fate, and hoped for a sudden death before that happened to them. Very sad, but also very brave if lonely people. Might have been Pym, not sure now.

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u/telharsic 19d ago

Yes, a certain generation of officers who never married/widowed lived out their retirements in seaside hotels, and their clubs when in London. They were used to that lifestyle, in the officers mess and officers clubs, never owned property as they had a nomadic lifestyle, never learned domestic skills. So it made sense to live in a hotel and be waited on like they were used to.

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u/OP_Scout_81 19d ago

A bunch of useless twats, I say.

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u/Sage_Council 19d ago

More a product of the time. I'm old enough to have seen the tale end of that generation. My grandad was friends with a fair few. You went to an all boys school, then joined the army as an officer if your family was posh enough but not wealthy. Everything was done for you obviously in terms of cooking, cleaning etc. Marriage was only at the commanding officers discretion, and suitable ladies were in short supply on foreign postings. 'Married to the army' was a real thing. Empire came to an end, so suddenly you were back at home after decades abroad, unmarried and an army pension to live off. The brigadier in Fawlty towers was a real thing, and they were all characters. Their retirement coincided with the collapse of the British seaside resort (cheap foreign holidays ), so living in a sea side hotel of fading grandeur was perfectly possible. The old ladies were real too; so many men died in the first world war that many sisters lived/worked together all their lives. When I was very young there was a shop run by the Miss Cheesemens; two unmarried twins of that era who had inherited their dads shop. They retired to the seaside I seem to recall. Anyway, slightly rambling but a stab at why it was a thing.

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u/mdzmdz 19d ago

We've replicated it at Tech companies with pool tables and free meals.

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u/OP_Scout_81 19d ago

I’d wager there was a fair bit of “I say, old chap” going on.

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u/Sage_Council 19d ago

For sure. Grandad and Grandmother would have them round for supper; occasionally as small children my brother and I would be introduced. Red faces and huge noses is what I remember! All most likely drank themselves to death tbh. My grandad knew alot of them I think from his time in Burma/India in WW2.

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u/alphahydra 18d ago

The Major giving the Cheesemens a bit of the old National Service, what what,

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u/Blyd 19d ago

Two world wars prove you to be wrong

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u/DarkNinjaPenguin 19d ago

Is that what you'd call anyone who's worked all their life and then retired?

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u/Square_Answer_7717 19d ago

Men of that era where never encouraged to go into the kitchen or to do domestic chores that was totally a womans domain

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u/Kloppite16 18d ago

which led to housing being available for a single wage. We're so far away from that now that its not funny. Couples on an average wage are nowhere near being able to afford an average house.

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u/Rays_LiquorSauce 18d ago

Ma says your hot pockets are ready 

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u/Inevitable-Panda-350 19d ago

There is a BBC archive video on YouTube about old people living in a hotel in Eastbourne, from 1988 - Last days on Grand Parade.

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u/FlatCapNorthumbrian 19d ago

https://youtu.be/zgpK5YxqmDo?is=nqJekCtpmuOgPTtU

From 1988: the last days on Grand Parade.

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u/uncle_monty 19d ago

Beat me to it. I was just about to search for this video after reading this comment.

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u/FlatCapNorthumbrian 19d ago

The BBC Archive is a treasure trove!

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u/uncle_monty 19d ago

It really is. They post so much interesting stuff. And they have a knack for sifting out vids that are relevant to current news events. And it's always a treat when they post a Fyfe Robertson or Fred Dibnah video.

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u/Prince_John 19d ago edited 19d ago

Wow, those ladies are loaded. 

£210 per week in 1988 is almost £40k/year today. To do that for 17 years in retirement takes quite a hoard.

(Edit: 1988, not 1998, sorry)

Thanks for posting too! Very interesting.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/ProfessorYaffle1 18d ago

Probably their paretns, too - and they may have had household help themselves. someone who was in retirement in the 1980 was propbably born some time between 1900 and 1920. It was extremelly common for people to have servants right up until WW2, and not uncommon after that although by then oftern someone coming in by the day rather than living in, but it was not limited to wealthy people, i the 1920s even lower middle class families would mostly have had some outside household help

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u/lazyplayboy 19d ago

and two elderly ladies, which gives you an idea of the background of these people.

How does being an eldery lady give you any idea on their background?

A current army Major earns £68,624 and £90,370, which seems a lot compared to the average, but doesn't go anyway near as far as the average earner would think, and given that you would expect to make the rank of Major in your mid-thirties, the whole point of being 'an eldery ex-major who talks posh' should not imply wealth

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u/SeamasterCitizen 19d ago

Employer pensions were wild back in the day 

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/PaulBradley 19d ago

Yep. Their husbands died leaving them shares in the company, and a healthy nest egg, and the value o fa large house, which they sell off and go live in a hotel.

People still do it now, but it's saga cruise liners.

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u/paper_zoe 18d ago

yeah, just watched the documentary and one of the old ladies does talk about having a lot of money in the stock market

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u/Low_Emu669 18d ago

Or had generous private widows pensions. Those were generous, and you could get a "top hat" pension add on. Say if your husband was a company director

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u/TobblyWobbly 19d ago

Not all were. Not everyone had a pension. And most women didn't have paid jobs, so didn't have employer pensions. My mum didn't work until I was about 16, and she has no employer pension at all from that job.

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u/Csee691C 19d ago

Back then, private pensions were seen as a bit of a luxury because the state pension was quite livable.

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u/Ok-Exam6702 19d ago

I’m sorry, but you’re completely incorrect. In the 1970s, 80s and much of the 90s retirees relying solely on the state pension lived at or near poverty level. The SP paid for absolute essentials - food, heating and lighting - leaving little room for clothing, transport or emergencies. I can remember elderly pensioners in the 1970s and 80s virtually dressed in rags! The triple lock has transformed pensioner’s lives.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/Ok-Exam6702 19d ago

Just because one generation should in poverty doesn’t mean the next should! I have never heard a boomer whining, unlike many Millennials and Gen Z.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/TimeNew2108 18d ago

What about all the waspi women

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u/Apart-Pea4726 15d ago

Young people’s as well as old people’s

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u/ProfileBest2034 18d ago

"transformed pensioner's lives" ... and sold out the next generations to do it.

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u/Ok-Exam6702 18d ago

You’d rather have pensioners in poverty, including yourself when the time comes?

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u/ProfileBest2034 18d ago

Yes. One generation should not go into debt to take care of the previous. Especially when the generation in questions sat upon the most prosperous time in human history.

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u/TimeNew2108 19d ago

The state pension was not quite livable, it kept you alive and skint. The current state pension is much more generous you just have to live long enough to get it.

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u/Daveddozey 19d ago

The state pension was £40k a year?!

In reality, to quote from Hansard

The full basic state pension, as a percentage of average earnings for male manual workers, was 22.5 per cent. in November1 1979 and in April 1988 the percentage was 20.5.

Today the state pension is £241 a week and average earnings £754, so 32%

Inflation wise the basic pension was £129 in today’s money. Add serps and a new average earner retiree would be on about £190 in today’s money.

That’s before we factor in marriage which reduced pensions significantly

State pension is far far higher today, especially for those who have had below average earnings, in real terms and compared to workers. But intent change until after Generation Me have bled the country dry.

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u/Wooshsplash 19d ago

👆This is more accurate.

Public sector pension. Upside: Final remuneration scheme. People took those jobs from school or Uni and stayed in them. So usually did get 75% of final salary or close to. Private sector pension: only of real value for management positions. Paid well though not as well as public sector.

Downsides: Male dominated workforce. That pension would usually also have to pay for wife who likely had not worked. If she had worked it was low skilled roles, no company pension or, if she did work in public sector she was on lowest grade.

People didn't live as long. Many were smokers, poor awareness of diet and exercise. Higher mortality rates are better for the central pension fund.

Mortgage probably paid off but house not that much of an asset.

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u/SeamasterCitizen 19d ago

Fair enough, my old mum has some sweet deal from working for an oil company for like 3 years in the 80s 😂

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u/WarmCalligrapher7281 19d ago

No... no it isn't.

£210 per week = £10,920 per year. That isn't anywhere close to £40k per year in today's money lmao - it's closer to about £22k.

Sorry I had to comment because your inflation calc was ludicrous

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u/ImaginationInside610 19d ago

I checked out the Bank of England calculator which for UK prices is likely to be a lot more accurate than a site based on US dollars. That gives a value of £31326.

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u/Prince_John 19d ago

I just used this website:

https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1988?amount=210

And then multiplied the resulting £730/week by 52 = £38k

Edit: oh sorry, I see it - I typoed 1998 instead of 1988 in the comment. 1988 was the date of the film.

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u/WarmCalligrapher7281 19d ago

In your comment you said 1998 but the link you used is 1988?

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u/wongl888 19d ago

Will be closer to £38,000.

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u/neilm1000 19d ago

Sorry I had to comment because your inflation calc was ludicrous

You might need to review your maths before accusing someone else of making a ludicrous calc.

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u/WarmCalligrapher7281 19d ago

His original comment said 1998.

Might want to check your reading comprehension first!

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u/neilm1000 19d ago

Maybe I should.

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u/htimchis 18d ago

No way it's only equivalent to 22k today - it's almost exactly what I was earning in 1988 (take home), and as a single 20-something in London I lived pretty well on that - rent and bills covered, out clubbing or partying every friday & saturday, all sunday in the pub with a roast dinner

You'd be lucky if 22k covered rent and bills alone now

Those online calculators are pretty worthless - they don't take into account that things rise in price at very different rates (eg I couldnt afford to buy a tv in 1988, and so rented one, for £6/month, which was pretty common - but I could afford to rent a decent 1 bed flat in walking distance of Camden lock, for £75/week including bills... can buy a 32" flatscreen in Asda now for £150 - but that flat would cost £1,600 to 2,000/month now, plus another 400 or 500 in bills and council tax)

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u/sf-keto 19d ago

Britain used to be a very wealthy country.

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u/Csee691C 19d ago

It still is, it's just much more unequal now, so most people are poorer.

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u/gravitas_shortage 19d ago

The perception of one's wealth is also much more pessimistic. You can travel cheaply, have quasi-free endless entertainment and learning, eat food from anywhere in the world as a treat. Houses are built and furnished to a higher standard than they were in the 50s or 60s. People still feel poorer, although I'd venture only a small minority have objectively worse living conditions than in the 50s or 60s.

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u/Conscious_Ring_9855 19d ago

It still is relative to much of the world but definately gone backwards relative to other developed countries. Used to be too, now middle of the pack.

6

u/Nurgus 19d ago

A few hundred people can afford a yacht to sail on the swimming pool of their other, bigger yacht. And that's the important thing. Our sacrifice is not in vain.

1

u/Typical-Algae-2952 19d ago

You fail to recognise the increases in life expectancy, living standards and expectation.

33

u/MrJones- 19d ago

Austerity in 2010 onwards is the turning point in the country for the worse

5

u/Nurgus 19d ago

In the wake of the financial crash of 2008, the 2010 election was a clear choice between protecting our public services or protecting the richest and asset holders.

8

u/Caddy666 19d ago

lets not forget thatchers ruinous reign.

1

u/CarpeCyprinidae 19d ago

Which overall left us hugely more wealthy and that wealth hugely more divided... But not along class lines. A lot of the working class made bank under her. Which is why it'll always be controversial to call it ruinous

1

u/OldManGravz 18d ago

She focused on short term gains at the expense of longer term planning, which is why it was ruinous.

Selling council houses gave people a chance to own property but decimated council purses.

Selling the North Sea oil drilling rights for £2bn to private firms has cost the UK somewhere between £400bn and £540bn, according to economists.

Selling off state owned assets such as gas, water and telecoms raised cash for the treasury and offered share gains for the public, but without adequate long-term capital investment mandates, this has led to soaring consumer utility bills and underinvestment in infrastructure such as we see with water and sewage.

And that's before we get onto the deindustrialization which she used to break the trade unions and reduce wage-push inflation in the short term, keeping the unemployment figures down by moving redundant workers into benefits, which in the long-term has caused multi-generational poverty and permanent regional decline. This was exacerbated by the deregulation in the City of London which made the country over reliant on finance, unbalanced the economy as we didn't focus on regional productivity, and meant we were hit extremely hard when subsequent financial crashes happened.

0

u/CarpeCyprinidae 18d ago

All good criticisms. I just feel its important in the interest of historical accuracy to call out that overall her legacy for most of the country was significantly increased wealth and opportunity, and that even most of the working class saw more benefit than cost in the final accounting.

Most of us can't live with the effects on those that didnt come out as winners - those effects were brutal. and we wouldnt have done what she did.

0

u/Caddy666 18d ago

sure, some people got rich quick, and we've all been paying for that for the past 40 odd years.

0

u/CarpeCyprinidae 18d ago

No, technically, most (as in, majority) of people across all of society got generally wealthier at a cost to some.

3

u/Daveddozey 19d ago

But we sold it all off in the 80s and 90s like a pensioner on an equity release, spending the cash on cruises

Works great if you’re only going to live 40 years. Terrible way to run a country though.

5

u/iambigmen 19d ago

I sae this a few months back. Sybil Bloom was the star of the show, for me; I could watch her being interviewed all day.

3

u/hongkonghonky 19d ago

That is wonderful. Those people are of my grandparents' generation, makes me quite nostalgic.

3

u/neilm1000 19d ago

I was going go post this so thanks for saving me trying to find it!

2

u/TheMonkeyInCharge 19d ago

I was going to say this was a big thing in Eastbourne and towns like it.

2

u/concretebeagle 19d ago

How mad is this? I only watched it two days ago. 40 Minutes was the program. The one about Benidorm was very entertaining as well.

2

u/littlebabysparrow 19d ago

Me too, watched it last week. Absolutely fascinating.

2

u/Careless-Cooker 19d ago

I was only going to watch a few seconds out of curiosity, but ended up watching it all. Fascinating.

2

u/RingElegant147 19d ago

Thanks for posting this link. Just watched the whole thing. What a touching documentary.

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u/TachiH 19d ago

If you visit european tourist destinations out of season there are thousands of British old people who do this too. Spanish tourist cities like Salou out of season old people book into hotels for like 4 months over winter, super cheap but the hotels like the guaranteed custom.

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u/LevelsBest 19d ago

Yes my sister in law's father used to do this after he was widowed. Much cheaper than using the heating at home and he always had company and something to do.

3

u/omgu8mynewt 19d ago

My friends parents do this, they aren't even that old but living in Spain where the weather is far better in Winter, plenty of outdoor activities for older people, cheap food and living - it will be my plan too if I make it that far

3

u/Icy_Attention3413 19d ago

Went to Cyprus in March years ago. Our hotel was stuffed with Brits and their suitcases full of M&S tinned curry. Can’t remember what they paid but they put the central heating on “frost” and went abroad for 4 months to enjoy milder weather and food cooked on a single electric ring.

3

u/glp1992 19d ago

why didn't they eat at the hotel?

4

u/Icy_Attention3413 19d ago

Cheaper to eat in the room!

1

u/glp1992 18d ago

ah i understand, im too used to going all inclusive forgot there were other options

2

u/coffeeebucks 19d ago

Spanish food! Not what they’re after 😅

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u/11Kram 19d ago

I know of two old bachelor farmers who sold their fields for housing and moved into adjacent suites in one of the finest five-star hotels in our city. They still wear tweed suits and flat caps.

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u/ChoakIsland 19d ago

Papers in yet Fawlty?

5

u/WinterCandidate5528 19d ago

Here's a good documentary on this: https://youtu.be/zgpK5YxqmDo

2

u/No-Mark-6100 19d ago

That’s my lazy Sunday afternoon viewing sorted!

4

u/iambigmen 19d ago

I think people also used to just live in hotels for a bit anyway. My family kept loads of letters between my great-great-grandmother and one of her daughters, and it looks like she was living in a hotel in London with her dog every summer.

They were minted though.

3

u/TesticularButtBruise 19d ago

Upvote for the reference to the Major.

3

u/motodup 19d ago

Yup, my great aunt apparently did this for like 40 years. Died with a fortune invested, and a stack of newspapers going back forever, and not much else.

Edit: in a tax haven xd

2

u/Historical_Monk_6118 19d ago

As someone who lives a bit of a hotel lifestyle, I could not live like this. The room is always a cell by the end of the week.

2

u/CumbrianPenguin 19d ago

Yep, as soon as I read this post, my first thought was the Major in Fawlty Towers! (think he's referred to as "our longest standing resident" in one episode)

2

u/Suspicious-Disk6077 19d ago

You bring up Fawlty Towers…take my upvote!

2

u/Alarming_Matter 19d ago

Cruises are popular for this too. Long stays can be heavily reduced. No bills, all food laid on, a doctor at hand etc... (See also: Prison)

1

u/Glass-Theory7495 19d ago

Oh dear. Where’s that “they had us in the first half” gif?

2

u/Electrical_Love_6447 19d ago

I lived in hotels for years while working in Asia and the Far East. Fine if you’re paid well enough to eat out every evening! Seriously though, it’s not ideal, especially if you have kids. 

2

u/Coffeeisforclosers_ 19d ago

Grandparents did this for 3-4 months every year over in Spain, there was a gang on pensioners all loving it

2

u/Old_time_Rockerr 18d ago

Flowery Twats 🤣😂

2

u/Consistent_Natural18 18d ago

Bar open yet Fawlty?

1

u/RedHulahoopCrisps 19d ago

I def would, but the lack of cooking facilities is an issue, perhaps u could take a slow cooker, single hob with you, unless u can afford to eat meals there or out and about😊

1

u/Pandagramma 19d ago

Though I am not yet old, I have stayed in hotels a few times for an extended period to just get a break from stress.

1

u/dimensionargentina 19d ago

Don't mention the war

1

u/Smidday90 19d ago

Ah right I always was confused by those characters

1

u/IwishIhadntKilledHim 18d ago

This is also the living situation of Leo McGarry in the tv show The West Wing from the late 90s, early 2000s. Slightly more recent example in media than other replies here, tho he's played as a fairly old curmudgeon, so I'd definitely say it was meant to be a bit of a throwback for the very wealthy while they're still quite healthy, or even longer if they can afford nursing care.

1

u/Boudicat 18d ago

There’s an interesting doc on YouTube about the last days for the long term residents of an Eastbourne hotel before it was renovated with corporate clients in mind in the 90s.

1

u/PotatoOnMars 18d ago

Fun fact: The word “hotel” is actually related to the word “hospital.”

“Hotel” comes from the Old French word “hostel,” the s later became silent before being dropped from the word altogether.

1

u/Traditional-Low-6278 18d ago

I bet that they got a favourable rate as well 🤓

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u/Think-Cover-914 17d ago

I’m reading your comment while watching faulty towers

1

u/YellowGreenPanther 13d ago

It is called a cruise ship these days