‘London is going down, it never used to be like this’: What makes the capital so expensive?

We speak to the people of London about why London is so expensive, from pints to properties.

Transcript

00:00 What do you think is the most expensive thing about living in London and what would you make cheaper?

00:04 Okay, it's quite easy. F.O.O.D. Food.

00:08 Accommodation, you can stay with friends, but if you're hungry, you're hungry.

00:14 If you're hungry and you can't find a way to eat, you can perish.

00:19 You can slowly get sick, sick up and you won't get better.

00:23 Because as well as food being expensive, good food is expensive.

00:27 I think what's... I'm looking through all the estate agent windows this morning, it's very expensive.

00:33 The rents and the price of the property, it's crazy, isn't it?

00:38 And, well, of course, it's supply and demand, isn't it?

00:41 There's just far too many people chasing far too few properties.

00:44 So it's a basic law of economics, isn't it?

00:47 There's not enough... They haven't built enough houses, not enough social housing either for...

00:52 I mean, look at London now, there's all these people sleeping on the streets.

00:55 It's appalling, isn't it? London really is going down, I'm sorry.

00:58 It didn't used to be like that. I'm from the West Country, I've lived over 26 years.

01:03 And I don't remember people sleeping in Oxford Street 26 years ago, you know.

01:08 It's just getting terrible. Surely they can do something about it. It's a rich country, isn't it?

01:13 What do you think is the most expensive thing about London?

01:16 And what would you... Out of everything, what would you make cheaper if you could?

01:21 Pints. Pints and housing, I guess.

01:25 I mean, I don't rent any more, luckily, but I know the rent market is actually crazy at the moment.

01:30 Pints is the famous one, isn't it?

01:32 At a sporting event, it's even worse because you don't even get a pint unless it's cans and stuff.

01:37 I was in West Ealing the other day and I paid £7.35 for a session IPA.

01:44 That's not even the worst I don't think I've ever seen.

01:48 Yeah, it's gotten pretty bad.

01:50 So without food, we can't exist. There's no possibility.

01:54 So Sadiq Khan and the other Sunat fella, they need to stop.