We've been rip-off Britain for decades now and it is only going to get worse.
I was doing a bit of work on a friend's barn in rural France years ago and needed to buy a new drill and a set of bits and a whole pile of plumbing bits and bobs. I nipped into the local OBI, the French equivalent of B&Q (which seemed to have had some tie-in with the parent company) and was floored at how cheap everything was. Identical Bosch Drill was £20 cheaper in France than in UK.
They had a great offer on outside lights and we were intending to change all 6 on the house at home. Dirt cheap! I bought all six and ordered a three-headed lamp standard to boot. The manager said the one they had was sold but offered to ship one to me in England. Including shipping, the whole lot cost me less than the identical 6 lights in B&Q. I've just fitted the last of the lights to the new house here 30 years later.
When I told the manager, he just gave a gallic shrug and said tha French wouldn't pay that sort of money and he did lots of business with Brits. This was pre-internet days and the French were all driving old Renault 5's. Now they are all driving big Audis and BMs and I imagine the prices in OBI, assuming it is still in business, are not qhite the same.
