Need advice for picking up souvenirs in London
Jul 1st, 2005, 05:49 PM
#21
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Others have posted about bringing back teas, candies, cookies which are all great. I recently brought back small boxed pressed apple juice (Cox's orange pippin) from Marks and Spencer- different and really delicious. Wish I could have found 100% Cox's Orange Pippin that I remember from years ago but the flavor was definitely present even though it had other apples added.
Jul 3rd, 2005, 11:04 AM
#22
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Yeadonite, I'm afraid, is confused.
Those Heathrow (and Gatwick and Stansted) duty-free shops that are located airside are contractually required to charge, when selling to people with a boarding card to a non-EU country, their High Street price MINUS VAT and excise duty.
This is aggressively policed by BAA, the airport operating company, which has strong views about the integrity of its duty-free operations Would that BAA had similarly strong views about running the airports efficiently, but no doubt we've all got our stories about that.
Fortnums charges the same duty-free as in Piccadilly because there's no tax on most of the things it sells (most food isn't subject to VAT, and that little spat in Boston Harbour was the result of Lord North's government abolishing import taxes on tea, not, as so many Americans mistakenly think, imposing them). Similarly, there's no VAT on books, magazines or children's clothing, so there's no tax to knock off on those products either.
But everything else is cheaper at BAA duty-frees than at a non-duty free UK branch of the same retailer.
That doesn't of course mean it's cheaper at Heathrow than at your Wal-Mart back home.
Those Heathrow (and Gatwick and Stansted) duty-free shops that are located airside are contractually required to charge, when selling to people with a boarding card to a non-EU country, their High Street price MINUS VAT and excise duty.
This is aggressively policed by BAA, the airport operating company, which has strong views about the integrity of its duty-free operations Would that BAA had similarly strong views about running the airports efficiently, but no doubt we've all got our stories about that.
Fortnums charges the same duty-free as in Piccadilly because there's no tax on most of the things it sells (most food isn't subject to VAT, and that little spat in Boston Harbour was the result of Lord North's government abolishing import taxes on tea, not, as so many Americans mistakenly think, imposing them). Similarly, there's no VAT on books, magazines or children's clothing, so there's no tax to knock off on those products either.
But everything else is cheaper at BAA duty-frees than at a non-duty free UK branch of the same retailer.
That doesn't of course mean it's cheaper at Heathrow than at your Wal-Mart back home.
