That's hilarious! I'm imaging droves of French people day-tripping to Folkestone for fish-and-chips, sausage rolls, expensive cigarettes and expensive crap beer. LOL (Apologies if a genuine question - just as a Brit, the thought is actually hilarious)
I think it's fair to say the French had way, way more to offer Brits than vice versa.
Of course they visited/visit the UK, but to see the country more than to buy any particular goods in bulk
The GBP was stronger compared to the Franc/EUR back in the heyday of Eurotunnel too, IIRC
Well I’m not a local. I could guess there are some English whiskeys and beers and anything else? Which should be really good.
France doesn’t offer everything..
French people, especially back in the day, have a particular distaste of British food though for mostly irrational reasons.
It's also more expensive. It's a little bit like how you don't see people in Savoie or Ain going to buy food in Switzerland, but the french supermarkets are packed with Swiss-plate expensive cars looking for a bargain.
> have a particular distaste of British food though for mostly irrational reasons.
Many people in my age class went to Britain with school and have been hosted by locals during their stay (a few days) and I keep a vivid memory of how bad the food was. It's not irrational at all, British do eat terrible food.
Yeah. The big draw was always that excise taxes on alcohol were much lower in France, but the EU guaranteed a right of individual duty-free import for personal use - so the UK couldn't make the money back on entry tariffs.
I'm very fond of British food, and there are certainly some things that are better got in our supermarkets than in France. Less than the other way round, though, and without the cheap booze to offset the cost of the trip I can't see many French people coming to the UK for good Madeira, pies, or Marmite...
A well-made steak and kidney pie is a thing of delight. Intensely savoury, great texture contrast between the pastry and the filling, lovely with thick-cut chips, ketchup and peas. And satisfyingly bad for you.
Even though kidneys are cheap offal and smell like piss before they're prepared, they do make the pie filling richer and tastier: plain steak pies aren't anywhere near as good. Don't know why.
What classifies as British? I love fish n' chips. Love shepherd's/cottage pie. Love bangers and mash. Love a good Cornish pasty. Love crumpets. Love bacon sarnies. Chip butties. Big Sunday roasts. Never tried haggis.
Yes we make better whisky than France. They import a lot of our whisky. I think you've identified one of the few things of ours they like lol (and to be fair to Scotland, it's Scottish whisky)
I think it's fair to say the French had way, way more to offer Brits than vice versa.
Of course they visited/visit the UK, but to see the country more than to buy any particular goods in bulk
The GBP was stronger compared to the Franc/EUR back in the heyday of Eurotunnel too, IIRC