[jokethrowaway]

Everything is more expensive in the UK - salaries are higher too, compared to Europe.

[ClumsyPilot]

London might be a beacon, but UK has the poorest regions in Western Europe. In fact some ex-soviet countries do better

https://highpaycentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/High_Pa...

[iso1631]

Train fares aren't (although the tax payer in France pays far more for train services -- services which are pretty rubbish compared with the UK.

Compare somewhere like Lesparre (population about 5,000 and 40 miles from Beudeux), which has about 10 trains a day taking 90 minutes.

With Cononley (25 miles out of Leeds) with 4 trains in each direction the next hour.