Here are some offers for when you’re heading out to the pub.
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Pub promotions
Lucky Saint: free 0% pint
Grab a free pint across the UK in January. You’ll need to select your location then claim your voucher.
You can get a free 0% Athletic beer or an Everleaf non-alcoholic cocktail at All Bar One until 31 January 2025. All you have to do is download the app and sign up and you’ll see the code on your homepage. If you’re already a member, you’ll find it on your home screen.
There’s a code to redeem the offer which you can use at the bar or in the app.
You can only redeem it once and you can’t get it at airports or the O2.
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Free drinks via apps
These apps often have free drinks to claim.
El Tab: £9.99 a week for free drinks
Smartphone app El Tab offers Londoners up to four free drinks every night of the week in different bars across the city. It usually costs £9.99 a week or £24.99 a month.
The app Dusk gives you a free drink each day at selected bars.
Just download the app and look for the bars participating. If you use the referral code AWEBB5 you’ll earn 500 reward points. I’m not sure they actually do anything right now, but there’s no harm in adding it to your account.
Free drinks with Embargo app
Another app, this one lets you check in to various venues to claim free drinks and discounts. Some are only available if you’ve collected ‘stamps’ from previous visits.
Use the code AMPLIFYING when you sign up. Not sure if there’s a reward but it’s worth a go!
Free drink with Mixr
Mixr is an app that lets you search for, view menus at and book at any pubs and bars owned by Stonegate Pubs. You can also pay in the app and earn points.
Download the Green King Sport app to get 10% off future orders during live sport. There’s also the chance to win more free drinks and prizes such as tickets to gigs, festivals and sporting events.
Download the We Love Sport app and there are often promos for free or discounted beers.
There seems decent coverage of pubs across the big towns and cities (eg 9 bars in Leeds, 5 in York and 5 in Huddersfield), but you won’t be able to use it everywhere. You can see participating pubs in the offer section of the app.
Our top deals
Here are a few ongoing and recent offers you might have missed:
You want to make sure you’re getting the best rate on your savings, and this article will take you through the best options right now.
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Best easy access savings accounts
These are the most flexible accounts available, but as a result, you usually get lower rates. You can add and take your money out at any time. Some accounts may have limits to the number of withdrawals you can make each year.
4.89% gross variable rate applies for 6 months, and includes a bonus of 1.5% AER fixed for 6 months on top of the standard Chase saver variable rate, currently 3.5% AER (3.45% gross). Offer may be withdrawn at any time. 18+, UK residents. Chase current account required. Available to new customers joining from 9/12/24 for your first 31 days. Interest paid monthly. T&Cs: chase.co.uk/saver-boosted
After three withdrawals within 12 months the rate will revert to either 3.75% AER (variable tracker with boost applied) or 2.72% AER (variable tracker)
A notice account means you have to request to get your money and interest, which will be released after a set time. They often have a variable rate but if there’s a cut you’ll normally be given notice.
Some of the best rates are in or linked to current accounts – or you might just want the convenience of having everything at the same bank (though that’s not always a good idea).
Anyone can open all of these accounts, though you will be credit-checked for opening the current account itself. They often have additional requirements or fees to consider. You may already have seen some of these listed in the easy and limited access lists above.
You can fix your savings for a year or longer and get a slightly better rate in return. However, you need to be sure you won’t need access to that cash over that time. The longer you fix, the greater the risk you’ll lose out if rates were to rise. But at the same time, they’re protected if rates were to fall.
It’s worth noting too when longer fixes provide you with access to the interest. With most it’s at the end of the fix, meaning all that interest will count towards your personal savings allowance for the year you receive it.
The prize rate for Premium Bonds currently stands at 4.15%. This doesn’t mean you’ll get 4.15% back on your savings, though the closer you are to the £50,000 maximum deposit, the closer you’ll get to the rate (on average). Here’s more.
Best children’s savings account
We’ve written in more detail about the different savings accounts for kids, so do check that article out to understand the conditions such as access and find all the top rates.
Best ethical savings account
The money you hold in your savings is used by the banks to invest and lend money. This could mean it’s used for things you might disagree with, such as fracking, tobacco or arms manufacturing.
There are banks with ethical policies such as Triodos, while building societies must lend 75% of their funds to home buyers, meaning they don’t have the cash to invest elsewhere.
Sharia accounts can’t be used for things against Islamic law, like tobacco or gambling and I’ve listed the top ones further down the article.
The “greenest” banks are Ecology Building Society and Triodos, though they won’t always make the tables above. The following banks and building societies are more likely to appear above.
There’s also the NS&I Green Bond, a 3-year fixed-rate account. It’s currently paying 2.95%. Here’s our analysis.
Top Sharia savings accounts
Paying interest isn’t allowed in Islam, so a Sharia-compliant savings account instead promises a return on the money saved – an expected profit rate. Though technically this means the rate isn’t guaranteed, it’s not happened yet. They’re open to everyone, not just Muslims. Money in these accounts won’t be invested in arms, tobacco, gambling or tobacco.
Look in the tables above for banks offering an expected profit rate rather than AER. The main banks are:
We update this page once or twice a day (check the published date to see when it last happened), but if you find a rate has been cut or isn’t available, you can check the Moneyfacts website for a partial list.
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if you travel a lot then this new membership from Wizz might appeal. You’ll pay £599 a year for unlimited flights.
In sounds good, but there are a number of catches:
Booking only starts in September 2024
There’s an extra 9.99 Euro fee on each flight
You can only book seats on flights that depart in the next three days, making return trips a little risky
It doesn’t include handheld or checked bags (so they’re extra)
Only one personal item is included (max. size 40 x 30 x 20 cm)
If you miss three flights your membership will be cancelled without a refund
It’ll automatically renew each year unless you cancel
Overall it sounds like more hassle than it’s worth, especially when you consider there are cheap tickets available in advance from Wizz and other airlines.
However, if you’re retired or have the flexibility to travel regularly and at the drop of a hat, it could be worth a look.
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Petrol and motoring deals
Halfords: free 5-point winter car check and bike check
Halfords is offering motorists a 5-point winter car check, which includes:
Headlight and brake light check
Wiper blade condition check
Battery health check
Windscreen chip check
MOT due date reminder (UK only)
If you’ve got a bike, you can also get a free bike safety check. Halfords says there’s no obligation to get an estimate for repairs or servicing, if any issues do come up.
If you join the Halfords Motoring Club for free, you can get a free £5 voucher to spend online or in-store at Halfords and a free 10-point car check, worth £15.
There’s a Premium tier for £49 per year that gets you your MOT (worth £44.99), 2 10-point car checks, a free fitting of wiper blades or headlights and 5% off at the autocentres and in-store.
This is generally a pretty good deal, but definitely worthwhile if you’re having enough work on your car to make the most of the 5% off, don’t know how to change your headlights or windscreen wipers and would usually do your MOT at Halfords.
£2 bus fare cap – extended to December 2024 (ended)
Bus fares will be capped at £2 one way in England from January to the end of December 2024. Not all bus companies are taking part – you can see a detailed list of the companies and routes here. After the end of the year, buses will be capped at £3 instead, until the end of 2025.
Santander Cycles are the bikes you can pick up and ride throughout London and you can get free, unlimited 30-minute journeys every Sunday in June 2024. Just enter CYCLESUNDAYS on the Santander Cycles app or at the docking terminal station.
Be warned, you will be charged after 30 minutes to make sure you find a docking station within half an hour to start the clock again.
Automating savings with AI and more is an easy way to see your savings grow
Often one of the biggest barriers to putting money into savings is simply remembering to do it. So your salary comes into your current account and stays there. Some of it goes to bills, some of it to shopping and going out. And before you know it, there’s not much (or any) left to put into savings. So nothing gets saved. And this repeats month after month.
But it is possible to break that chain so some of your money goes into savings before you can spend it – and you don’t even need to do anything each month. After the initial set up, these three methods will automatically move money out of your main account into a separate account.
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Set up standing orders
This is the simplest way to ensure you save every single month. Doing this means the money is automatically saved month after month.
You need to do three things. First, set up a separate account which is just for your savings (try for one with some kind of interest, though that’s hard right now). This doesn’t have to be a standard savings account with your current bank. It can even be a separate savings account at a different bank where it’s possible to get 7% with regular savers from First Direct and Co-op Bank.
Then work out how much you can afford to save each month. This isn’t difficult. Just add up all your regular bills and essential outgoings such as food and petrol for a month and deduct this from how much you earn in a month. What you’ve got left is what you have to spend for the rest of the month until your next payday. You’ll need some of this for fun stuff, but you’ve got
Finally, set up a standing order for that amount to come out of your current account and into your separate account on the same date every month. This is often referred to the “pay yourself first” savings method.
Personally I’d set this to be as close to payday as possible so you can’t spend the cash before you save it. If your payday tends to move when it happens on a weekend, then allow a couple of days before the standing order takes the cash. You can always change the size of the direct debit if you feel it’s too much or too little.
If you’re not confident you have enough money spare each month to save at payday then there are some apps that will help save smaller amounts as the month goes on.
Once you’ve downloaded the app you need to connect it to your bank account. Doing this gives each app access to see your bank balance and monitor regular payments in and out. The apps then use smart algorithms to analyse your spending.
Now it’s the clever bit. The apps can work out how much they think you can afford to save, and transfer that money automatically to a separate account. Slowly but surely the total saved adds up. You can, of course, use one of these as well as set up standing orders in order to save that little bit more each month.
With each of these apps you have the ability to increase or decrease how much and how often you save, and well as reject a saving if you think you need to keep hold of the money. And if you change your mind it’s easy to withdraw the money back to your current account, though it might not be until the next working day, depending on the app.
I know some people worry about the safety of this but your banking data is all encrypted to keep it safe. Your money is also protected if the companies running the apps were to go bust, though not necessarily if the bank holding the cash goes under. I’m happy with the ones listed below but if you’re not comfortable with doing this then do a bit more reading to put your mind at ease.
Here are the main artificial intelligence savings apps that will automatically move money for you:
Plum
The free version is all you need for the automatic savings, though if you choose to pay more you’ll also have access to Plum Plus which comes with an investment platform. Interest is 0.25% on the free version.
If you put your money into the interest-paying pocket, it’s held with Investec and protected up to £85,000 by FSCS.
Sprive
Sprive is an app doing the same thing, though it has one major difference – the money saved goes towards overpaying your mortgage rather than a savings account. If your mortgage rate is higher than what you can get in savings, and if you already have a substantial emergency savings fund, this could be a better option for you.
Just bear in mind once it’s in the mortgage it’s much harder to access that cash if you need it later (you’d need to remortgage and release capital). It’s also early days so not all mortgage providers can be connected.
When you first sign up you can get £5 by using the code 5NN3KXFL, or it’s worth checking the rate offered by TopCashback.
Chip
The AI feature on Chip stopped being free to all users in mid-2022. It now charges 45p per save so I wouldn’t use this app for auto-savings.
The final form of automated savings is something I’m calling ‘triggered’ savings. Effectively, when a certain event happens your bank will move money from your main account into a separate savings pot.
Monzo and IFTT
The main bank for this is Monzo, which has a 1p savings challenge available to start until 31 January 2025 for free customers, though if you pay for a packaged Monzo account that’ll be available all year.
You can also connect to an app called IFTT (If This Then That). You can set up other simple savings challenges very easily, either choose from a catalogue of pre-made options or create your own.
For instance, you could use your maps app as a trigger when you visit a certain shop, or your weather app to trigger a save every time it rains. You’re limited to two free ‘applets’ with the IFTT basic plan.
Plum
The paid version of Plum also offers some of the standard ones, eg the 1p savings challenge, but I don’t think it’s worth paying extra for this.
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Round up your spending automatically
The most common way to get money in your savings account without any effort is to use a “rounding up” system. When you spend money on your debit card, the bank will round up the transaction to the nearest pound, moving this spare change across to a savings account. For example, spend £3.75 and 25p will be moved over.
I rarely use this option myself as I tend to spend with my cashback cards instead, but I like the idea of small amounts adding up each time you shop. If you use your debit card a lot it could quickly build up a few quid every day or two.
More and more banks (listed below) offer this and you’ll need to opt-in for the rounding-up to happen. All work a little differently so make sure you understand how what you’re signing up to. And if your bank doesn’t offer this there are third-party apps you can try.
The pick of the bunch is probably Chase as you’ll also earn 5% interest on the top ups for a year on top of the 1% cashback for spending.
What banks offer round ups?
Bank of Scotland
Chase
Halifax
Lloyds
Monzo
Nationwide
Natwest
Revolut
RBS
Starling
Trading 212
TSB
The following also allow you to round up from spending at other banks
MoneyBox
Plum
Our podcast
Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Editor-in-chief Andy Webb and Deputy Editor Amelia Murray.
So there are a lot of options for auto saving, here are the ones I’d recommend:
PLUM
Focus on Plum in the first instance. It’ll be the most impactful. But move your money across to a better paying account at least every month, if not weekly.
CHASE
I’d also suggest you try Chase. Mainly because of the 1% cashback, but the 5% on round ups doesn’t hurt either!
MONZO
Finally, if you already use Monzo, then the IFTT feature has huge potential to add more to your savings. And it could be fun!
All of the deals for ODEON, Vue, Cineworld, Everyman, Picturehouse and more!
In this article you’ll find all the latest cinema ticket deals and offers, starting with the ones you can’t miss, then some chain specific offers, and then a few more well worth a look.
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Top cinema offers
2-4-1 via Meerkat Movies for £1
One of the most popular cinema deals is Meerkat Movies. Once a week you can access a code to get buy-one-get-one-free tickets on a Tuesday or Wednesday. You can use this deal at most UK cinemas all year (though not Everyman or Curzon).
Whether you’re buying a full price ticket, or stacking with other offers featured on this page, you’ll save a little by using a discounted gift card.
Some of these are special offers at retailers like Tesco or Amazon where you save when you buy. When these are available we’ll share them as featured deals.
Others will learn you cashback on your gift card purchase, and these tend to run all year around via these apps:
You can get six free ODEON or Vue tickets if you open a Club Lloyds bank account. You’ll need to deposit £2,000 into the account each month to avoid a fee, but that’s easily done.
At Vue cinemas, your vouchers also entitle you to half price popcorn. At ODEON cinemas, you can redeem your vouchers at ODEON Kids Screenings, which come with a free kids-size popcorn per ticket.
With Halifax’s Reward accounts you can get one free cinema ticket per month at any UK Vue Cinema. Each ticket is valid for 12 months. You’ll need to add £1,500 to your account each month, and also spend £500 on the debit card too, in order to trigger the freebie.
You can claim a free, standard ticket at any Vue in the UK every month. You can upgrade to a VIP, 3D, recliner or IMAX ticket but you’ll pay an extra fee.
You’ll need to use the code before the end of each calendar month, but it can be for a screening at a later date. Monzo Perks costs £7 per month and comes with a range of money saving benefits, including an annual Railcard and weekly Greggs freebies.
There’s a good chance you can save up to 40% on cinema tickets via an existing membership or account – and if not, you could sign up as a new customer.
The likes of Tastecard, Mastercard and Lidl offer you access to a service called Cinema Society which sells reduced tickets for ODEON, Vue, Picturehouse, Showcase, Cineworld, Empire and other independent cinemas.
This can be a good way to save, but watch out as you might find your local cinema is cheaper itself when you buy direct! Or some of the other deals we’ve shared on this page could also work out better value.
In some cases you’ll need to pay for the initial membership, but others are free. Though you can find these in a number of places (check any work perk schemes for instance), here’s some of the more common ones you might have access to.
We’ve listed more offers, both specific to the different chains and across different cinemas, below, but these ones in particular are worth a look:
Vue: 3 tickets for £1 via the Telegraph
Everyman: 2-4-1 Wednesday with Times+
Escapes: free film preview tickets
ODEON ticket deals and offers
Don’t forget we may have featured some Odeon deals in our ‘Top cinema deals’ section above, including how to hack 2-4-1 tickets for £1.
ODEON: two tickets for £10 for Amazon Prime members
Deal expiry: Ongoing offer
If you have Amazon Prime, you can get two standard tickets for £10 at ODEON, or two recliner tickets for £15 at ODEON Luxe.
This offer can be used once per month for screenings from Monday to Thursday. This price includes the £1 booking fee per ticket. Can be stacked with discounted gift cards.
ODEON: two tickets for £8 for Vodafone customers (+£1 booking fee)
Deal expiry: Ongoing offer
If you’re a Vodafone customer then you can get two ODEON cinema tickets every week with VeryMe Rewards. You can do this once each week for any film showing at any time.
Two standard tickets will cost £8, while two Luxe tickets cost £13.
You can also get four standard for £16 and four Luxe for £26
The voucher can only be used on the same screening, so you couldn’t use it for one ticket at two screenings for example.
You’ll need to pay an additional £1 booking fee when using the voucher on the ODEON website, though this covers the whole booking. If you use it at the box office you won’t pay this extra charge.
To get it, you just need to tap on ‘Rewards’ in the Vodafone app and claim the offer.
Sign up for free to myODEON and you can watch any film, any day, any time from just £5 when you book online.
This offer is only available at 22 specified locations so check ODEON’s list to see if your local cinema is included. You must be signed into your account to see the lower prices.
Don’t forget we may have featured some Vue deals in our ‘Top cinema deals’ section above, including free tickets via bank accounts.
Vue: two tickets for £9 with O2 and Virgin Media
Deal expiry: Ongoing offer
If you’re a broadband customer with O2 or Virgin Media you can use the O2 Priority app for discounted tickets. You can get two Vue tickets for £9 every week or four for £18 to use on any day, at any Vue location. There’s also 20% off food and drinks.
You can get a new code at 10am each Monday and it’s valid until Sunday of the same week.
If you’ve got Sky Cinema, you can get two free standard Vue cinema tickets every month. The tickets can be used at any Vue cinema in the UK or Ireland, at any time Sunday – Thursday.
You’ll need the MySky app to get access to this offer, where you’ll find a code to use online and a QR code to use in the cinema.
There’s a limit to how many free tickets Sky gives out each month, so you may need to get in early.
Don’t forget we may have featured some other deals in our ‘Top cinema deals’ section above, including how to hack 2-4-1 tickets for £1.
We’ve also details of Cineworld and Picturehouse memberships later on this page.
Cineworld/Picturehouse: £3 tickets via Three+
Deal expiry: Ongoing offer
Every week, Three+ customers can nab a code for a discounted ticket to use Friday to Sunday. Codes are available from Monday. It’s for 2D screenings only, though you can pay to upgrade.
Picturehouse Central and Picturehouse Fulham Road are excluded. You’ll pay a booking fee to redeem the code online, but it’s free to use in the foyer.
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Everyman cinema ticket deals and offers
Everyman offers are pretty rare!
Everyman: 2-4-1 Wednesday with Times+
If you subscribe to The Times, you’ll be able to get two-for-one tickets at Everyman on Wednesdays. You can get a one month free trial or £3 for 3 months then it’s a pricey £26 a month.
Don’t forget we have featured some other deals in our ‘Top cinema deals’ section above, including how to hack 2-4-1 tickets for £1.
Escapes: free film preview tickets
With Cinematik, you can get free tickets to select films for free. Each month, a film is voted to be screened and you can book to see it on a specific day. You can book a maximum of one ticket per screening. You also have the option to reserve an additional ticket for a guest, which they’ll need to confirm separately via a shareable invite link.
The cinemas taking part are mainly local independent ones, but there are Picturehouse and Reel cinemas included. There’s a full list of all participating cinemas on the Cinematik website.
You can buy a ticket from £5.60 to use for movies at Vue, Cineworld or Odeon with the entertainment site Fever.
The actual price you’ll pay varies by location. If you have a larger town or city close by, you could get a better discount by choosing a cinema there instead.
Again, do check you can’t get a ticket for less via a different offer before buying.
Here’s what you need to know about getting discounted tickets with Fever:
ODEON: you can get a standard 2D ticket at select cinemas in the UK. It’s not valid at Luxe locations or the Islington Luxe & Dine. If you want to upgrade to IMAX, 3D or recliner seats, you’ll have to pay extra.
You can use the voucher online via the ODEON website or app, but there’s a £1 fee per ticket. You can also redeem the voucher at cinema kiosks – but not at the box office. The voucher can’t be used for special screenings or events and can’t be combined with other offers.
Vue: you can get a ticket for a film either online or via the Box Office. Each voucher is only valid once and if you cancel your booking, you won’t get it back.
It’s not valid for premieres, special events or things like Mini Mornings or Scene screenings. With a Super Saver voucher, you can book general 2D seating, while VIP vouchers give more options, including recliners and 3D screenings (with an upgrade fee).
Cineworld: you can get a ticket for any standard 2D film, but if you want to upgrade to 3D, IMAX or 4DX you’ll have to pay extra (plus the cost of 3D glasses if needed). If you’re booking online, there’s a small fee added.
You can’t use this ticket for Event Cinema, special screenings, Movies for Juniors or ViP seats though, so check before booking.
Mubi is an online streaming service. For £11.99 a month you get a classic, world cinema or art-house flick to watch, with the curated selection adding a new film every day.
For an extra £7 per month you also get a free cinema ticket every week via the Mubi Go service. There’s a 7-day free trial and if you sign up for an annual membership, you’ll save 33%.
You typically won’t be able to watch blockbusters, instead there’s a specific new film every week. You can go to see that film once, and another film choice will be given the following week.
With many of the films being smaller, they’ll have limited releases, so if you don’t live in a big city there’s a good chance you won’t be able to take advantage every week as not all the films will be shown at all cinemas.
If you’ve got a Vitality membership, usually offered as a healthcare perk with employers, then you can nab yourself a free Vue or ODEON ticket once each month.
You need to earn 48 Vitality points each month for tracking your activity, then just log into the website or app to generate your personal cinema ticket code.
Enter your code on the cinema’s website when booking your tickets.
ODEON: Family ticket – you can get adult tickets at child prices for the same film. You’ll see the option at check out for an adult and child combo ticket.
Vue: tickets for £2.49 – Vue Mighty Mornings are kids screenings on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10am and every day of the school holidays.
Cineworld: from £2.50 – kids and adults pay the same price via Movies for Juniors.
Picturehouse: from £3.30 per ticket – kids’ Club screenings are shown every Saturday morning and prices depend on the cinema you visit. There’s also preschool specials, exclusively for preschool children and the adult goes for free. With the family ticket option, adults only pay kids prices. It’s for four people, at least two must be under 15 (e.g. two adults and two kids or one adult and three kids).
Cheap over 60s cinema tickets
Over 60s tickets from £3.50
ODEON, Cineworld and Picturehouse have cheaper tickets for over 60s (Vue don’t have anything on offer at the moment). Here’s our roundup of the deals:
ODEON: from £3.50 per ticket – ODEON Silvers has screenings during quieter times of the day with a selection of new releases or classic films. Tickets with standard seats are £3.50 when you book as a myODEON member online and £4.50 in-cinema. Standard seats are £4.00 when you book online as a guest and £5.00 in cinema. The price includes tea, coffee and biscuits, served before the film.
Cineworld: tickets for £4.50 – CineSeniors runs every Wednesday and you also get complimentary hot drinks and biscuits.
Picturehouse: discounted tickets – Silver Screen is a free-to-join club for over-60s. Members get a free tea or coffee at Silver Screen shows.
Memberships
These memberships could save you money on tickets – if you go frequently enough.
ODEON myLimitless: from £14.99 a month
Deal expiry: Ongoing offer
ODEON myLimitless is an annual membership that allows you to see as many films as you like in ODEON cinemas. You pay £14.99 per month or £17.99 for myLimitless Plus, which also gets you ODEON Luxe, seat upgrades and screen upgrades.
If you go via a cashback site, you could cut the cost even more. With TopCashback you can get up to £4.25 of the price back on your first payment. Plus, you could get a welcome bonus offer.
Odeon sometimes offer discounts on annual membership, and we’ll share them here when they run.
If you frequently go to a Cineworld, its Unlimited Card lets you go as much as you want (2D only). The minimum subscription is 3 months and starts at £10.99 a month, going up to £21.90.
Each cinema is bracketed into a group – the amount you pay depends on the group your cinema falls in. The Cineworld website has a full list of which cinemas are in which groups.
Group 1 cinemas – £10.99 a month
Group 2 cinemas – £16.99 a month
Group 3 cinemas – £19.40 a month
Group 4 cinemas – £21.90 a month
Members are also invited to preview screenings and get 10% off food and drink. If you continue your subscription for a second year, membership then includes 3D films and the food discount goes up to 25%.
There’s also a referral scheme where you get an extra month for free if you get a mate to sign up.
We’ll share any discounts on membership here when they’re available.
Picturehouse: free tickets and £3 off with memberships
Picturehouse memberships give you free tickets and discounts at any Picturehouse cinema. The free tickets are sometimes restricted to your member cinema so it’s best to save them for the weekends when prices go up.
There’s two tiers of membership – Member and Member Plus. The Member option gives you five free tickets and costs between £57 and £97 per year depending on the member cinema you join.
Member Plus gives you an extra card so you can split the costs with a mate or family member. You’ll get ten free tickets and it costs between £100 and £170 per year.
After the freebies you’ll also get £3 off our further tickets.
Members also get a 10% discount on food and drink, free previews, no online booking fees and occasional other freebies.
At certain points in the year there are discounts on memberships, and we’ll share them here if they’re any good.
There are a few options here, though the basic one (i.e. cheapest) allows you to take a friend for free on Mondays. You also get six free tickets for the £89 cost.
The next level up costs £325 a year, and comes with 24 free tickets. After this you can spend £680 and get unlimited tickets for two for a year.
For £65 (£50 concessions) you can get an annual “Classic” membership. This comes with five credits to use for free tickets or at home streams. You can use the credit to buy tickets for yourself and guests. There’s a further 20% discount for you and a guest on other tickets. You’ll also get 10% off drinks and snacks.
If you go to a Curzon a lot, there is a £285 “Cult” option. This annual membership gives you five free credits a week. Use them all and it’s just £1.10 a ticket! You can’t use the credits to get a ticket for a guest. If you want to pay monthly it’s £25 a month, but you’re still tied in for 12 months.
The Cult + membership doubles down with 10 free tickets a week (which are valid for events such as theatre and ballet screenings) and an additional cardholder. It comes in at £850 a year.
Get 20% off ODEON e-giftcards from Tesco until 22 December. The discount applies to e-giftcards valued between £5 and £25. These e-giftcards are valid for two years.
The best offers and promotions for credit cards from 0% interest through to introductory bonuses.
Used responsibly, credit cards can help you earn money on purchases, give you stronger consumer protections, make holidays cheaper, help you clear debts or spread the cost of a big purchase.
Everyone’s situation will be different, so these are just the best cards out there – you might have to settle for a shorter deal or lower rate of cashback.
This list is updated at least every month – check the published date to see when this last happened.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
The best cashback card welcome bonuses
When you’re opening a card, especially a cashback or rewards based card, it’s worth seeing if there’s a welcome offer. And even better, checking to see if it’s boosted.
Amazon: £20 welcome offer
Sign up for the new Amazon Barclaycard and you’ll get £20 in Amazon credit added to your Amazon account. If you had the previous iteration of the credit card you’ll probably see a £50 reward showing, as long as you’re signed in.
You’ll also earn 1% at Amazon and 0.5% elsewhere, dropping to 0.25% after a year.
If you apply for a new John Lewis Partnership card you’ll get double points at John Lewis or Waitrose for the first 6 days, meaning you’ll get the equivalent of 2.5% back.
After this you’ll earn 1.25% back (5 points per £4 spent) in Waitrose or John Lewis. You’ll get 0.25% back (1 point per £5 spent) at all other retailers.
If you apply for a new Marks & Spencer credit card, you can get a five points on M&S spending instead of one, for six months. Every £100 spent gets 500 points which works out as £5 as a voucher.
There is no closing date for this offer but the terms and conditions state it can be withdrawn at any time.
With the Barclaycard Platinum credit cards, you can get £15 cashback from Quidco when you apply and use the card within 90 days.
And on top of this Barclaycard will give £20 cashback if you spend £500 on the card once accepted. That part ends 6 February 2025.
The card itself offers up to 22 months of spending at 0%, and up to 19 months for a balance transfer, with a fee on the latter of 3.45%. If you use the card for purchases you must pay off at least the minimum each month, even though it’s at 0%.
Remember, even though you need to go via Quidco to get this offer, you should check your eligibility first on the Barclaycard site. If you decide to proceed with the application, close the Barclaycard website down, and start again via Quidco.
If you’re new to Quidco, you could get up to £20 as a welcome bonus as well, though you’ll need to you use this for other shopping as it requires a minimum spend.
Cashback sites Quidco and TopCashback offer between £20 and £30 to successful applicants for credit cards from Tesco, TSB, HSBC and Barclaycard. Rates can change, so check out both sites.
For balance transfer cards this could work out better than the no-fee option. So for example, the Barclaycard Platinum transfer fee is 0.9%. Transfer £2,222 or less and the cashback wipes out the fee.
These rates can change so it’s worth checking each site to see which pays first.
New to cashback sites? Get an additional bonus of up to £20
Quidco new members can get £20 when they spend £10, while TopCashback new members can get £20 when they spend £10. Find out how to get these bonuses
Check out the latest bank switching incentives, plus the current accounts with the best rewards, cheapest overdraft and highest interest.
Expired deals
Asda Money: up to £50 cashback (expired)
If you open a credit card with Asda Money by 6 January 2025 then you can get 5% back in your Asda Pounds in your first 60 days, up to £50.
You’ll also earn 0.75% on your Asda spend and 0.2% everywhere else.
This is only available for new customers, or those who’ve not had an Asda credit card in the last 12 months. You’ll need to stay within the terms of your credit agreement to get the Asda Pounds.
It’s worth noting that recent offers have paid more, with £50 or £100 available in cashback in 2024.
HSBC: 0% purchase card plus £60 cashback offer stack (expired)
With the HSBC Purchase Plus card, you can get £35 cashback from Quidco when you apply and use the card within 90 days. If you’re not on the Premium level of Quidco (£1 a month – more here), that this drops to £25.
And on top of this HSBC will give £25 cashback if you spend £100 on the card once accepted. That part ends 16 December 2024.
The card itself offers up to 20 months of spending at 0%, and up to 17 months for a balance transfer, with a fee on the latter of 3.49%. If you use the card for purchases you must pay off at least the minimum each month, even though it’s at 0%.
Remember, even though you need to go via Quidco to get this offer, you should check your eligibility first on the HSBC site. If you decide to proceed with the application, close the HSBC website down, and start again via Quidco.
If you’re new to Quidco, you could get up to £20 as a welcome bonus as well, though you’ll need to you use this for other shopping as it requires a minimum spend.
Virgin Atlantic Reward+: Up to 22,500 bonus points boost (ended)
If you collect Virgin Points rather than Avios, this offer until 4 March 2024 will earn you double the usual points on spending for two months.
Card
Fee
Requirement
Welcome bonus
Boosted points
Virgin Atlantic Reward+
£160 a year
Spend up to £5,000 before 14 April
15,000
Up to 7,500
You’ll get 15,000 points with your first purchase with this card, and then double points (so 3 per £1 rather than 1.5 on most spending, or 6 rather than 3 on Virgin Atlantic/Virgin Holiday payments) until you reach £5,000 or 14 April (whichever happens first).
This means the additional points you can earn is capped at 7,500 and a total of 22,500. After this you’ll get the standard 1.5 points per £1 on additional spending.
It’s worth noting the card is fee free abroad if you spend in Euros, Swedish Kronor or Romanian Lei within the EAA or UK. It doesn’t apply to cash withdrawals.
You’ll be eligible for the offer as long as you’ve not held this Virgin Atlantic card in the last six months. If you have the free version of the card you will be able to get this offer.
The offer ends on 4 March 2024.
Is it worth it?
It’s a decent boost, but sadly this is lower than the 34,500 points available from a similar offer that ran late Autumn 2023.
I had a quick look for an off peak flight in November 2024, and those points would be enough to get you a return ticket from London to New York via Virgin Atlantic, though you’d need to pay taxes of around £281 on top. That’s instead of paying cash of around £574. So in this case the points would be worth around £300.
Bear in mind there’s a £160 annual fee, and you won’t get a refund if you cancel it after getting the bonus, so the flight in the example above would actually have cost you £460. But that’s still a saving of £115ish.
There’s also a upgrade voucher to Premium or a 2-4-1 companion voucher if you spend £10,000 across a year.
Of course these calculations will vary by route, date and availability, and you might be able to pay less if you shopped around for other offers.
If you don’t want to use these towards flights you can redeem them at the Virgin Red site, including for train tickets or gift cards at Costa, Nike and Pizza Express. You’ll get half a penny (0.5p) per point, so those 22,500 points will be worth £112.50.
You can also swap for things like Virgin Wine and Gregg’s sausage rolls!
If you sign up for Yonder, you can get yourself 6 months free (usually £15 per month).
Yonder is a reward credit card that lets you earn points to dine out (mainly in London). Travel insurance is included. A nice draw is that it doesn’t necessarily check your credit report as it prioritises open banking data when making a decision on accepting or rejecting your application.
You don’t have to stick around after the free trial and cancel before the 6 months are up.
These banks accounts are my top picks for the year
I’ve got 25 different personal current accounts right now. Yes, that’s far too many for most people, but trying them all out really helps me recommend to you the good from the bad.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
You can watch my video round up of the top offers, or keep reading
Best dummy current account for switching
If you’re looking to take advantage of switching deals, it’s often worth setting up a dummy account you’ll use purely for this purpose.
Winner: Chase
A couple of reasons why Chase wins here. First, there’s no hard credit check when you first apply. Second, once you have one account, you can set up nine more in the app – and it’s these ones you’ll want to use to switch away.
Just be sure not to switch away your only Chase account as that’ll close your whole account down and you won’t be able to reopen it.
Best bank account app
Banking apps are improving all the time and the best have features such as freezing your card if it’s lost and features to help you save.
Winner: Starling
Recent improvements to the Monzo and Revolut apps made this a close call this year. Chase is decent too. But Starling still edges ahead. All of these digital only banks have features to help you track spending and manage your card, but I think not only does Starling do it best, it does a little more on top.
You can use it on both app and desktop, you can pay in cheques with your phone, you can deposit cash at Post Offices and more.
Runner up: Monzo and Chase
It’s worth taking a look at these other digital banks as often it’s personal preference which makes one stand out over the other. You might prefer them to Starling.
Runner up: Natwest
If you’re after a high street bank then the app I like the best is from Natwest (or RBS which is basically the same). You can do most things you need to do, and it’s clearly set out. A nice extra is you can use it to take cash out at Natwest or Tesco ATMs if you don’t have your card.
I’d normally suggest using a specialist credit card for your spending so you’re earning a little cashback with every purchase and also one that won’t charge you for spending abroad – and there’s a current account that does both of these.
Winner: Chase Bank
You can make 1% back on spending for the first 12 months you have with Chase Bank, which is as good as it gets right now (unless you opt for the stoozing method of spending and saving).
It is capped at £15 a month, so that’s on your first £1,500 a month. Some spending categories are excluded (like adding money to savings or credit cards, and buying cars or gambling).
I tend to transfer money across rather than use it as my main bank. That’s no bad thing as it helps you control your spending!
Though many banks offer additional cashback offers linked to specific retailers, Monzo has the easiest one to view and manage. Here’s our review of the feature. You can also spend overseas fee-free, though are limited on cash withdrawals.
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Only Santander will give you money back each month on direct debits for your bills – but sadly the better paying Santander 123 and 123 Lite accounts are no longer open to new customers (if you’ve already got either, then keep using it).
Instead you can choose between the Edge and Edge Up accounts, and it’s the former that will probably earn you more cashback each year.
Both give 1% back on household bills such as Council Tax, energy and broadband, though the Edge costs £3 a month vs the Edge Up’s £5 monthly fee. That extra £24 a year for the Edge Up really cuts into your returns.
Though the earnings aren’t as much as they once were, this cashback via the Edge is better than nothing, and you’ll also get access to the 7% paying Edge Saver.
Runner up: Chase
You can also get cashback on some bills via Chase Bank’s debit card (not direct debits), and also use this to earn money back on other regular subscriptions such as TV and music streaming.
Runner up: Monzo/Starling
If you’re more worried about budgeting than cashback then both Starling and Monzo will let you segregate money into separate pots and then assign one to pay bills direct from it.
Best bank accounts with rewards
Some accounts will pay you each month, either in cash to your account or with a freebie. You often have to pay a monthly fee and meet other criteria.
Winner: Halifax Reward
Though it takes a little more effort than the runner up, I’ve gone for Halifax as you’ll get a better return.
You can get either £5 a month, 12 cinema tickets or 24 movie rentals as long as you jump through a few hoops. The main one to watch is spending at least £500 on a debit card each month, though there’s a hack to get around this. Plus you can have three of these accounts, so there’s potentially £180 a year to make.
Runner up: Club Lloyds
You’ll get less each month from Club Lloyds – either 6 cinema tickets or a year of Disney+ with Ads – but once you’ve set up standing orders you can just leave the account alone. Here’s my full Club Lloyds review.
From inclusive insurance and breakdown cover to extras, sometimes it’s worth paying a fee each month for a packaged account.
Winner: Virgin Money Club M
For £12.50 a month you’ll get worldwide family travel insurance and phone cover, as well as UK and Euuropean breakdown cover for the account holders (so it’s worth opening it as a joint account). That’s decent value if you need two or three of those policies. Here’s our full Virgin Money Club M review.
Runner up: Monzo Perks
If you’re going to buy a railcard, grab a Greggs and go to the cinema each month, this £7 a month account from Monzo is worth a look. You’ll also get access to enhanced budgeting features. Here’s our Monzo Perks review.
For ongoing savings the highest paying account is a regular saver that’s only open to First Direct current account holders. It pays 7% AER – and that’s fixed for 12 months. You can only add up to £300 a month into this regular saver. Read more about other regular savers here.
Winner: Santander Edge
The highest interest rate on larger balances at the moment is from Santander. As long as you have the Edge current account you can open the Edge Saver. This offers 6% on up to £4,000 – though that previously mentioned £3 a month fee needs to be factored in if it’s not covered by cashback. The rate also drops by 1.5% after a year.
Runner up: Kroo
I don’t think having your money separate to your main current account is a problem (in fact it has benefits). But if you want to earn on money that is in there (so not in a separate account), you can get an okay rate of 3.65% at Kroo (though it’ll fall when the base rate drops).
If you use an overdraft you’re probably paying around 40% in interest – far more than it’d cost to borrow elsewhere. So they’re best avoided. But if you are overdrawn then it makes sense to reduce that cost ASAP.
Winner: First Direct
You can currently get a £250 0% buffer from First Direct. That’s not amazing, but it can be useful if you occasionally go a little below zero.
Runner up: Monzo/Starling
If you really need to use an overdraft then you might be able to get as low as 15% of 19% with these digital banks.
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Best ethical bank account
Winner: Triodos
This account tops the charts on Ethical Consumer’s list of ethical current accounts and it’s hard to beat. However it does come with a £3 a month fee and the app is limited. Here’s my full review.
Runner Up: Nationwide, Starling or Co-op
These banks also score well. As it’s a building society, Nationwide is committed to putting the bulk of its lending towards mortgages so it can’t invest heavily in non-ethical practices. It also has positive policies in place to avoid this.
Starling has the edge over its challenger bank rival Monzo, while Co-op is the top-ranked from the other high-street banks.
If you don’t want to have multiple accounts, and really want everything in one place, then these banks combine multiple extras.
Winner: Chase
The 1% cashback on spending makes it the account that’ll be most profitable over a year (up to £180). Alongside this you can get 5% interest on roundups and fee-free spending abroad. The app too is good, if not the best.
Runner up: Santander Edge
We all pay bills, so we may as well get cashback on these, and there’s also 1% back on supermarket and transport spending. On top there’s access to the 6% paying Edge Saver account. The app is average though.
Runner up: Club Lloyds
I think Club Lloyds is also worth a shot. The app is pretty good, and the six cinema tickets or year of Disney+ with Ads is potentially worth £60 a year and there’s a decent (though not best buy) monthly saver at 6.25%.
The best cash incentives available when you switch banks right now
We’ll update this page as new offers appear, though you should check the terms and conditions at each bank before you begin to ensure they haven’t changed.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
1% cashback on everyday debit card spending. Available for your first 12 months as a new customer. Max £15 per month. Exceptions apply. Offer may be withdrawn or changed. 18+, UK residents.
More details ▼
Additional Info
Cashback terms: Capped at £15 cashback a month
Benefits: Round-up account: 5% AER (4.89% gross) variable, paid monthly. Chase current account required to open round-up account. Round-up balance transfers to elected Chase current or saver account on anniversary of account opening. T&Cs apply.
Linked saver account: 3.5% AER (3.45% gross) variable, paid monthly. Chase current account required to open saver account. T&Cs apply.
Zero fees from Chase when spending at home or abroad
Open multiple accounts for free
24/7 customer service
Restrictions: 18+ only, UK residents.
FSCS protected: Yes
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The highest paying easy-access and regular children’s savings accounts and Junior ISAs
Here’s my guide to the best children’s savings accounts. Check the date to see when this was last updated.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Easy access accounts
These can be current accounts for kids or specific children’s savings accounts and are open to anyone under the age of 18. Rates are usually variable, which means they can change, and are often only on a limited amount of money.
With these accounts, your children will be able to manage the money themselves once they reach a certain age.
These children’s savings accounts pay higher rates but you’re limited on how much you can save each month. Usually, it’s a fixed rate for a year. When the time months is up, the account will close and the money will be transferred to a linked savings account.
You or your child can save £9,000 a year in a Junior ISA. These can be cash ones earning interest or stocks and shares ISAs which are invested (meaning the value can go up and down).
Though interest or gains earned in an ISA are tax-free, it’s unlikely it makes much difference as there are other allowances that will be more than enough for most kids.
Money in Junior ISAs is also locked away until the child turns 18. Then it’s their money to use as they want.
Parents or guardians have to open the account but anyone can add money – handy for grandparents and other family members who want to put money aside.
Tesco Bank (4% AER variable): min £1 (open via online/phone)
Tax and children’s savings
Andy’s analysis
When choosing a children’s savings account, you probably won’t need to worry about tax on interest.
Children can earn a total of £18,500 from savings and other income each financial year. That’s the £12,500 personal tax allowance, the £5,000 starting savings allowance and the £1,000 personal savings allowance.
However, if parents (and parents only) are adding money to any of the non-tax free accounts then there’s a £100 interest limit each year per parent.
So say the child has £2,000 saved earning 3.75%, they’d make £75 in interest. That’s fine. If they amassed £3,000 in contributions from the same parent the amount earned would be £112.50.
That’s still ok if the money comes from both parents, as the allowances would be combined and the total interest that can be earned would be £200.
But if it’s from one parent, then the entire £112.50 would need to come out of that parent’s Personal Savings Allowance. That might not be a problem – but if it exceeds this, then the whole amount will be subject to tax at the rate the parent pays, which could be 20% or 40%.
To avoid this you might want to save into a Junior ISA.
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Other ways to save for kids
Premium Bonds
You can also buy Premium Bonds for children. These cost £1 each, but there’s a minimum purchase of £25. Grandparents are able to buy Premium Bonds, as well as parents and guardians.
The current prize fund is 4%, which isn’t the same as 4% interest. It’s very likely that with small amounts of cash in Premium bonds you won’t win anything – but there’s the chance of getting up to £1 million every month.
Pensions
Yep, you can start putting money into a person pension for a child at any age. They won’t be able to access the cash until they reach 57 years old (though that will likely increase when they’re older). However, they can manage where the money is invested from the age of 18.
As with adults adding to pensions, they’ll get 20% tax relief from the government, meaning for every £80 that’s added, £100 will be invested.
There is an annual limit though of £2,880 where you’ll get this extra top-up.
Piggy banks
It can be good to get young kids familiar with coins and money by giving them a piggy bank to save with. Obviously they won’t earn any interest (unless you want to work that out yourself).
Once they get a little older to understand branch and online banking it might make sense to replace the piggy bank with the accounts above.
Apps
Starling offers a free app to help kids learn about money and spending while also giving the parents extra control over purchases called Starling Kite. You can also pay a monthly fee for apps like Go Henry and HyperJar. However, you’re unlikely to get any decent rate of interest from any of these.
