London | Every Thursday, Watling Street teems with so many bankers and lawyers sipping on pints of beer that it’s almost impossible to walk up the lane in the City of London financial district. Most other nights, though, it’s almost empty as workers cut back amid a cost-of-living crisis that’s left two-thirds of UK adults spending less on non-essentials.

“We can’t help you pay the bills, but we can help you forget about them,” reads the sign outside Core, a pub on the thoroughfare offering 50 per cent off drinks from 4pm to 9pm each night to tempt people to the hostelry. On Wednesday, most of the tables in the bar were occupied. Elsewhere, it was quiet.

Bloomberg