Save on your home essentials from furniture to paint
If you fancy spending the weekend putting up shelves or sorting out the garden, here are the best home, garden and DIY sales and offers.
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Here’s what’s currently on offer.
Current deals
Argos: £5 off £40 spend
Until 17 June 2026, if you’re not currently receiving Argos marketing emails and you sign up for them, you’ll get an email with a unique code that’ll get you £5 off a £40 spend.
As part of its ‘No Tent Left Behind’ campaign Decathlon is letting customers buy tents, use them for a few months, and return eligible them for a refund on a gift card.
It says some 250,000 tents are left at festivals each year, which mostly go into landfill. And in a bid to reduce waste it’s promising to accept the return of its M100 range of tents bought between 9 June and 14 September 2025.
It encourages customers to enjoy the tent at their summer festivals but for it to accept a return, the tent mustn’t be damaged, stained, torn, contaminated, altered or in poor condition.
You must bring the tent back to a store, with proof of purchase, by 14 September 2025, to be eligible for the offer.
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Expired deals
Hobbycraft: £5 off £15 spend (expired)
If you have the Hobbycraft loyalty app then you can get £5 off a £15 spend until the end of October. You’ll find the voucher in your app or if you’re shopping online, you can use the code HC515 to get the discount.
It can’t be used to sign up for workshops or subscriptions or to buy gift cards
Ikea: £15 off £50 spend and free breakfast (ended)
Wear your pyjamas to Ikea this Saturday 7 September and you’ll get a £15 off voucher to be used against a £50 spend and a free breakfast. There are also other activities running, but they’re store-dependent.
The breakfast available includes one of: a small cooked breakfast, a small vegetarian breakfast, a children’s breakfast, a breakfast bacon roll, a breakfast sausage roll or a breakfast vegetarian roll. You can’t get the cooked breakfasts at the Hammersmith store.
You can only get the breakfast between 9:30am and 11am on 7 September 2024 and you’ll need one of the vouchers that will be distributed at the store on the day and an Ikea Family Card, which is free to sign up for.
There’s no need to keep buying water when you’re thirsty thanks to a scheme that will let you top up at local shops and businesses.
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Though the summer is taking a while to get going yet this year (and rain is always around the corner) there have been some been fantastically sunny and hot days in the last month. And that means it’s more important than normal to keep hydrated when out and about.
Yes, a chilled coke can be good, and apparently, a hot drink will help lower your body temperature. But personally I’ll always prefer to have a nice cold water.
But buying bottled water isn’t always cheap. Yes, you can pick up a chilled own-brand 500ml bottle from supermarkets for around 70p, but that’s way more than it would have cost a few years ago. And you’ll be paying way over £1 at coffee shops and corner shops.
For those still commuting to the office, buying just two bottles a day during a working week could easily cost £10, if not more.
And it’s not good for the environment either. The organisation City to Sea estimates that UK households buy 480 plastic bottles a year, and only half get recycled. So it’s better for both your wallet and your conscious is to reuse either a “single-use” bottle, or buy a tougher one designed to be used again and again.
But if you’re not at home or work with access to a tap, where do you top up your bottle? Well, I’ve got some info to help you find out where you can hand over your bottle and get it refilled up for nothing.
Look for the Refill symbol
In recent years I’ve spotted more and more of the Refill logo in the windows and doors of cafes, pubs and even places like gyms.
This logo means you’ll be able to get a refill of your water bottle for absolutely nothing. You can also plan in advance by downloading the Refill app which has a searchable map.
There are apparently over 330,000 businesses operating as “Refill Stations” in the UK, including brands such as Costa, McDonalds, Starbucks and Greggs.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.86% AER to 4.98% for 12 months
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Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.1%
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Restaurants and bars – your rights
Of course, not everywhere will have the logo – but that doesn’t mean you can’t get free water. It’s always worth asking places if they’ll top up your bottle, though it’s always better to do this if you’ve been a customer.
Though spending money doesn’t mean you are entitled to free water. Restaurants and cafes don’t even have to give you free water with your meal unless they are licensed premises.
If they do serve booze then they must have it available, but they can charge for service if they wish. And it doesn’t mean it’ll be very good tap water. I’ve eaten in places where the water is not great at all, and not even that cold. Still, it can help keep costs down.
Find public fountains
The Refill app also has an option to help you locate public fountains.
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Filling up at airports
Though you can’t take liquids over 100ml with you then you go airside (though that might be changing), you can bring empty bottles. You should then be able to fill up your water bottles once you’re through security.
Not all airports have fountains, and they’re not always easy to find, but I’ve usually managed to bring a bottle or two through to ensure I can stay hydrated on long-haul flights, and avoid the sky-high charges you get on budget airlines.
There’s a healthy welcome bonus for the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold credit card, making it one of the most attractive cards at first sight.
Here’s what you need to know about the American Express Gold card, how to hack the point redemption to earn more money and how it compares to other cashback cards.
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How much will you make from the Amex Gold?
Earning Reward points
You earn American Express Membership Reward points rather than cashback. There are different levels when you spend with the Amex Gold Rewards card. You’ll get:
1 point per £1 spent
2 points per £1 spent with airlines or in foreign currencies
3 points per £1 spent at American Express Travel
Personally I’d ignore the double and triple points unless you happen to get the best deal direct with an airline or Amex Travel. It’s better to get a lower price elsewhere even though you’ll earn half the points back. You’ll also be better off using a fee-free card to spend in foreign currencies.
Spending bonuses from 15 October 2025
As well as normal points for spending, you’ll also get additional bonus points triggered by cumulative spending. This is changing from 15 October 2025.
When the new system comes into play, it’ll stagger this bonus so you get 5,000 bonus points for each £10,000 you spend.
The bonus points will be added to your account as soon as you reach the spending threshold. It’s capped at a spend of £20,000 a year meaning the most you could get in a year are 10,500 additional points. Here’s how that works:
Spend
Bonus
CumulativeBonus
£10,000
5,000
5,000
£20,000
5,000
10,000
Of course, the two ways to earn points (point per spend and spending bonus points) stack on top of each other, so the real return has to look at them combined.
If you spend £10,000 (ignoring the welcome bonus which I’ll come back to), you’ll actually get 15,000 points, not 10,000. That’s now an effective cashback rate for the card of 0.75%. You’ll get the same rate if you spend £20,000 in a year.
But if you spend a different amount, the effective cashback rate will be less. Here’s how it’d pan out based on different annual spends with the card.
Annual spend
Points earned
Additional bonus points
Total value as gift card
Equivalent cashback rate
£2,500.00
2,500
0
£12.50
0.5%
£9,999.00
9,999
0
£57.50
0.5%
£10,000.00
10,000
5,000
£75.00
0.75%
£12,500.00
12,500
5,000
£87.50
0.7%
£15,000.00
15,000
5,000
£100.00
0.67%
£19,999
19,999
5,000
£124.50
0.63%
£20,000.00
20,000
10,000
£150.00
0.75%
£25,000.00
25,000
10,000
£175.00
0.7%
So really you’re looking at just 0.5% on this card if you don’t spend more than £10,000., and close to 0.75% if you are on or just over each £5,000 threshold. Only super high spenders above £25,000 will eventually earn less than this.
The new system means you’ll work out the same if you spend annually:
Less than £5,000
£10,000 to £14,999
£20,000 to £24,999
Any other spending level will be worse off, but up to 2,500 points (worth £12.50 as gift cards or Nectar points).
Spending bonuses until 14 October 205
Until mid-October, the system staggers this bonus so you get 2,500 bonus points for each £5,000 you spend. Here’s how that works:
Spend
Bonus
CumulativeBonus
£5,000
2,500
2,500
£10,000
2,500
5,000
£15,000
2,500
7,500
£20,000
2,500
10,000
£25,000
2,500
12,500
Here’s how it pans out based on different annual spends with the card.
Annual spend
Points earned
Additional bonus points
Total value as gift card
Equivalent cashback rate
£2,500.00
2,500
0
£12.50
0.50%
£5,000.00
5,000
2,500
£37.50
0.75%
£7,500.00
7,500
2,500
£50.00
0.67%
£9,999.00
9,999
2,500
£57.50
0.62%
£10,000.00
10,000
5,000
£75.00
0.75%
£12,500.00
12,500
5,000
£87.50
0.70%
£15,000.00
15,000
7,500
£112.50
0.75%
£20,000.00
20,000
10,000
£150.00
0.75%
£25,000.00
25,000
12,500
£187.50
0.75%
Welcome bonus
New American Express customers who haven’t had an Amex in their name in the last 24 months (here’s more on this American Express rule) will get a welcome bonus worth 20,000 Reward Points when they spend £3,000 in the first three months. You have to spend the full £3,000 to get the bonus. Spend even 1p less and you won’t get it.
This would be valued at £100 if converted to a gift card. The bonus is earned alongside the points given for each £1 spent, meaning that the initial £3,000 spend is actually worth £115 when converted at 0.5p.
However, there are also regular boosted bonuses, increasing the welcome points available to 25,000, and sometimes as much as 30,000 or 35,000 (depending on the offer). Unless you really need the card, I’d wait for one of these offers to run. Check our Amex Gold booster offer page to see if there’s an offer like this available right now.
Be aware that getting the American Express Gold card (bonus or not) will rule you out of earning the welcome bonus from the American Express Platinum, one of the only cards that allows a second bonus.
Annual fee and charges
The American Express Gold card is free in the first year. However after this it comes with an annual fee of £195.
I can’t see how it’s worth paying this much when you can swap to a free or much lower fee card and earn a similar amount on your spending.
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Other Amex Gold perks
£10 Deliveroo credit a month
There’s potentially £120 back in credit for spending at Deliveroo with the American Express Gold card. It’s actually two lots of £5 per month, each requiring a £5 minimum spend. This offer needs to be activated on your card, and won’t apply to any supplementary cards.
Free airport lounge passes
You also get four airport lounge passes each year. These can be used at Priority Pass locations, which can be hit and miss – it all depends on which airport you are at. I’d treat it as a nice to have rather than a reason to get the card.
Exclusive events
This is something previously limited to Platinum card holders. You’ll be able to book on (and pay for) events and exclusive food and drink deals throughout the year. Personally I’ve never used this on any of my Amex cards.
Other cashback offers
Something I love about Amex are the extra offers you can select via the app and your online account. Though these are retailer specific and won’t always be relevant, they’re well worth a look.
What are Amex Reward points worth?
It’s all very well talking about these points, but how do you use them and what are they worth? The former is easy. You can exchange your points as soon as they are paid via the Membership Rewards website.
But the value of the points depends on how you redeem them. They’re worth 0.45p when swapped for bill credit or used on retailer sites. So 1,000 points will be worth £4.50.
That increases to 0.5p (£5 per 1,000 points) when exchanged for a gift card at retailers such as M&S, Amazon, Selfridges and Waterstones, or converted to Nectar points. This means the cashback equivalent is 0.5%.
You can also swap them to your Avios or other airline schemes at a rate of 1:1. Personally I think most people are better off getting a cash value they can use on everyday spending than be restricted to using them as part of a flight loyalty scheme.
If you won’t want to pay the fee from year two onwards, you can cancel your card. If you miss the anniversary and get charged, you may be able to cancel and get a pro-rata refund of the fee, giving you back the money for unused months. However this loophole is due to end at some point.
However closing the card will mean you lose unused Reward points. Fortunately there’s a free Amex Rewards card you can apply for which will protect your balance. Make sure you do this before ditching the American Express Gold card.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.86% AER to 4.98% for 12 months
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Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.1%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
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Amex Gold vs other cashback cards
Welcome bonuses
When boosted to 30,000 bonus points, along with 3,000 points for the spending (in total the equivalent to £165) is the highest paying welcome offer without a card fee in year one, as long as you can spend £3,000 in three months.
But, as mentioned, having this card rules you out of later applying for a welcome bonus with the Amex Platinum card, which is often boosted to 80,000 points. This won’t be for everyone, but if you think you might do this, then perhaps you’d be better off going for a different Amex first.
Compared to the other cards, the Nectar will earn you the equivalent of £100 in Nectar points, while the Amex Cashback offers up to £125 (5% on the first £2,500). Get either of these and you can still go for the Platinum at a later date.
Everyday spending
The best you’re going to get with this card is between 0.5% and 0.75%. That’s not bad, but it can be beaten. Right now there are a couple of cards which will pay a better rate.
The Amex Nectar pays two Nectar points per £1, which is effectively also 1%. This has a fee in year two, but only £30, so much cheaper than the Amex Gold!
The American Express Cashback card pays 0.75% on spending up to £10,000, then 1.25% for further spending (it resets each year). It also comes with a £25 annual fee, though this can be wiped out in the first year with occasional special offers or a referral code.
Should you get the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold credit card?
Andy’s Analysis
It’s certainly not a bad option for one year, but if you think you will try the second welcome bonus hack for the Amex Platinum card then I’d go for the Nectar or Cashback first instead.
How to get an American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card
Save money without sacrificing the protection you give your skin.
Is a branded suncreen any better than a supermarket’s own version? And what should you be thinking about other than the SPF number?
I’ve taken a look at how to make sure you’re not overspending but still getting the right protection.
What makes a decent sun cream?
SPF and UVB rays
When you’re going to buy suncream there’s probably only one number you really pay attention to. The big one on the front – the SPF number. Sun Protection Factor.
This ranges from around four or five all the way through to fifty plus. The number which medical groups recommend is at least thirty.
What the SPF number specifically shows is the protection you get against Ultraviolet B rays – or UVB. These are the rays that generally will burn your skin.
Basically the higher the number is, the greater the protection, the longer the protection you’re going to get from these rays.
“Star ratings” and UVA rays
There’s actually more than one type of UV ray coming from the sun. What you should also be looking for when you’re buying your suncream is protection against UVA – Ultraviolet A – rays.
This is the stuff that’s meant to premature age you, the stuff that causes you to get those lines caused by the sun. It will hopefully say both UVA and UVB on the packet.
But how do you know how good that protection is? Because SPF isn’t anything to do with the UVA. Instead, you look for some stars. Bigger packs hopefully have it on the front, though it might be on the back of smaller ones.
You should be looking for at least four stars. That’s going to give you the protection that you need.
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Is more expensive suncream better?
Now if you’ve got at least factor 30 on the UVB and then you’ve got at least four stars on the UVA then all the sun creams are pretty much the same. At least they’re doing the same thing anyway in terms of protecting you from the sun’s rays.
So whether you’re going into Aldi or Boots and you’re spending a couple of quid or whether you’re spending more than ten quid by getting some posh brands, they’re not really doing anything different.
The best buys were from Boots, Nivea, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug, all relatively affordable. Worryingly, some of the brands didn’t offer the protection promised – and were marked “don’t buy”. These were Asda, Morrisons and one type of Ultrasun.
Broadly, the only real difference they found between the ones that did pass the tests is that some of the cheaper ones can feel a bit greasy when you apply them to your skin. Or they smell not fantastic when you apply them, so you might want to try some different ones and pay a bit more money.
So just because it’s a brand it’s not necessarily any better than an own brand from one of the chemists or supermarkets.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.86% AER to 4.98% for 12 months
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Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.1%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
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How much should you buy?
One extra thing to think about when you’re buying your sun cream is the size of the bottle. In terms of getting value for money the bigger bottles will often work out cheaper per unit, usually per ml, So you’d think the bigger the bottle the better the deal.
But that’s not necessarily the case. On the back of most of your sun creams, you’ll see a little drawing of a pot. You see it on lots of cosmetics as well. This little round pot with an open lid and in there it will give a little number. If it says “12m” it stands for twelve months. Most sun creams are meant to last between 12 and 18 months.
Time actually reduces how strong the cream is. The bottle might say thirty on the front but if it’s two or three years old it won’t be delivering that kind of protection.
And it’s worth bearing in mind that if you leave your suncream out in the sun then that’s going to make it last a shorter amount of time as well.
So will you actually use the cream up in that time? Or will you, like I have in the past, have half-used bottles sitting at the back of the cupboard until the next year?
Big families, or people spending a lot of time in the sun, are probably better off buying big bottles at the start of each summer, and then buying smaller ones as the summer ends. And people who aren’t out in the sun much might be better off just buying smaller packs. Of course, it’s important to apply the right amount – so don’t scrimp.
From headphones to TVs, washing machines to fridges
If I spot special offers on any technology, appliances and electronics I’ll share them here.
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Discount vouchers
Curry’s Trash for Cash: free £10 voucher
Take old electric items to Currys for recycling and you’ll get a voucher for at least £10 off (with a minimum spend of £25). You can provide anything powered by battery or mains, working or not. It doesn’t have to be bought from Currys originally.
Usually, you only get a £5 voucher, but it’s currently £10 for a limited time, although there’s no end date at the moment.
Vouchers must be used within 90 days and they can’t be used on Apple products, consoles or gift cards.
A VPN is a service which lets you access the internet privately or browse as if you were in another country (it’s how people watch iPlayer overseas). For a day or two every month or so, Quidco offers 93.5% cashback rather than the usual 70% or 80% on a two-year NordVPN membership. This is worth around £68. Someties it’s increased to 100%!
A quick extra hack – VAT is added on top and cashback doesn’t cover this. So you’re looking at paying around £14, though I know some people have said they’re based in the US or Guernsey to avoid this.
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Expired deals
Google: 20% off devices (ended)
Until Sunday 19 May 2024 you can use the code SPRINGTREATGB to save 20% on Google products. This includes already discounted items (though do shop around first incase you can beat the price).
John Lewis: Free Google Nest Hub when you spend £75 (expired)
Spend £75 on selected home, furniture and electrical items at John Lewis and you’ll be able to add a Google Nest Hub (currently priced at £49.99) your basket. Then use the code MYJLGOOGLENEST at checkout to get it for free.
You do need to be a MyJohn Lewis member, which is free. Ends 8 June 2022, though previously offers like this have finished early if all the stock as gone.
Amazon is once again discounting the price of its Echo speakers, Kindles and more. But you don’t have to buy from Amazon direct as loads of retailers are price matching (eg Currys).
This card gives you free or reduced entry to galleries and museums.
If you’re an art or museum lover, you’ll know it can be expensive to see all the major exhibitions, especially in London. The National Art Pass is a pretty good way to indulge your hobby for less.
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How much is a National Art Pass?
It’ll cost you £83 for the year, reduced to £62.25 if you pay by Direct Debit. Buy a Double membership and it’s £124 a year or £93 via Direct Debit.
Is it any good?
The bigger galleries and museums will probably offer you 50% off with the pass, while smaller ones might give you free entry.
Andy had one before and didn’t quite use it enough. But if you frequently visit galleries and museums, it’s well worth considering.
Where can you use it?
There are hundred of places – from the National Gallery to Tate Liverpool to HMS Belfast. You can search for your favourites or places near you on the National Art Pass website.
National Art Pass deals
3 months for £15
It’s unusual to get a pass for less than a year, so if you want to try it out, then you can currently get a discount for three months. It costs £15 for three months and add a plus one for £5.
If you’re aged under 30 years old you can get an annual pass for £50. (Or £37.50 if you pay by Direct Debit).
You can buy this at any time before you hit 30. So if you’re 29 and your birthday is tomorrow you’ll still get the full discounted membership for a year.
You can buy a Student Art Pass for £10. You need to be over 18 and studying full-time at a UK university or college. You’ll need to prove your eligibility with a uni email address.
It’s worth trying the code TAKE20 for an extra 20% off.
This hack will get you cheap tickets every Tuesday and Wednesday for a one-off fee – giving massive savings to film fans. Even better, it could cost as little as £1.
One of the best ways to get cheaper cinema tickets is via the Meerkat Movies 2 for 1 cinema tickets deal – and you can bring the price down even more by stacking it with other deals.
In this blog, I’ll explain how it works, how to get the Meerkat Movies code, and whether you can use it at ODEON, Vue, Cineworld, Picturehouse and other cinemas.
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.
What are Meerkat Rewards
Meerkat Movies is just one perk offered by comparison site Compare the Market. Anyone who’s taken out a qualifying product via the site also gets Meerkat Meals, which offers money off at restaurants and cafes.
How Meerkat Movies works
Once a week you can access a Meerkat Movies code on the app to get “buy-one-get-one-free” tickets at most UK cinemas all year.
You can then use this code on either Tuesday or Wednesday for standard cinema seats – not all cinemas allow you to use it for 3D or premium screens, or they might charge extra to do so.
All the big chains except Picturehouse let you use the code to book online a week ahead – though watch out for online booking fees.
You have to use the code for the same film, so you can’t do a solo double bill, and you can only use one code each week.
And it’s the cheapest ticket which is free. So if you’re one adult and one child, you’ll pay just for the adult ticket.
With your £1 travel insurance policy you also get two for one discounts at restaurants with Meerkat Meals.
How to get Meerkat Movies membership for £1
To get your one year membership you need to buy an insurance policy through the Compare the Market comparison site.
That’s great if you’re looking to sort out insurance for your car or home, but if not there’s a sneaky trick to get you access for just a few quid. Prices vary and normally sit around the £1.20 point – but right now it’s possible to get it for just £1!
Follow this and you should be offered a range of policies – just go for the cheapest one. You’re not going to use this insurance so you don’t need to read into any of the terms and conditions. Buy this and you’re now eligible to get 2 for 1 Meerkat Movie codes every week!
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Which cinemas allow Meerkat Movies codes
You can search for cinemas in the app, or in this Meerkat Movies map. it looks like you’re less likely to find an independent cinema that accepts the codes, however the following big chains all let you use Meerkat Movies codes:
ODEON
Vue
Cineworld
Picturehouse
Empire
The Light (some locations)
Reel
Cinema chains that don’t allow Meerkat Movies include:
The easiest way to get your weekly Meerkat Movies code is via the Meerkat app. If you don’t have a smartphone you can log into comparethemarket.com and print your voucher from there, or just write down the code.
You need a new code every week, and these are released on a Thursday.
Stacking other savings with Meerkat Movies
Two for one is already a great deal, but you can often save even more by combining the Meerkat Movies code with other promotions.
One way to stack is to pay with a discounted gift card. These aren’t that common, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for deals such as 10% off the likes of ODEON, Vue and Cineworld.
Meerkat Movies by cinema
Meerkat Movies at ODEON
ODEON seems to let you use Meerkat Movies with any type of ticket. Look out for discounted locations, with some cinemas charging just £5 a ticket midweek – meaning you’ll pay £2.50 per person with your Meerkat Movies code.
Meerkat Movies is also a great way to save money at the posher Luxe screens, or the refurbished ODEON Leicester Square. You’ll still pay more for these locations though.
Officially the ODEON Limitless card doesn’t work with your Meerkat Movies code, but it’s worth a try. These let you go to as many films as you like, potentially bringing the cost of two people to see a movie every week down to as low as £2.30 per ticket – IF you go every week, and only on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
Meerkat Movies at Cineworld
Again, some Cineworld locations are really cheap mid-week – so check the prices near you. You can use Meerkat movies with child, student and senior tickets alongside normal adult ones.
Though it’s not an official policy, regular Cineworld goers with an Unlimited Card seem to have no problems with combining their membership with the code to get 2 for 1 cinema tickets. To save even more, Tesco Clubcard points can be used to save you money on the annual price.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.86% AER to 4.98% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.1%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
Meerkat Movies at Vue
The supercheap Vue day is now on Mondays, so you can’t combine it with Meerkat anymore.
Meerkat Movies at Picturehouse Cinemas
In my experience, you can use your reduced membership price with a Meerkat Movies code – though officially the chain says you can’t.
I’m a big fan of Picturehouse memberships. You get free tickets to cover around half the fee, then you save around £2 or £3 per ticket on top of that and get 10% off at the bar, plus most will have a cheap ticket day and member previews.
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Annual sales and offers
These are offers that tend to come back each year, so keep an eye out.
Kids Theatre Week (June to September)
Kids Theatre Week runs every summer, and tickets generally become available in early June for shows in August. Tickets go on sale this year on 10 June 2025, and they tend to sell out fast, but more tend to be released to coincide with the start of the summer holidays.
You can get one free child’s ticket (and two more at half-price) at a series of West End shows when you buy one full-paying adult ticket. It’s for shows from 21 July to 31 August, not just one week. A child is anyone 17 years old and under.
Tickets are limited with big shows quickly selling out, but there are plenty of options including Hamilton, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, Mamma Mia and kids’ shows The Lion King, Matilda The Musical and Alice in Wonderland. And keep an eye out, as more seats might be released for those popular productions.
The only thing I’d say is the adult tickets are full price so you might be better off looking at other deals if more than one adult is attending.
Twice a year, TodayTix and other sites offer discounts at a decent number of West End shows in an event called London Theatre Week. It ran from 17 February until 9 March 2025.
During these dates, you can book to visit the theatre in the coming months for heavy discounts — prices are either £15, £25 or £35.
The dates you can get discounts on vary massively between productions, but for a lot of them, you can book for a couple of months
Official London Theatre See It Live (December 2024 to March 2025)
Official London Theatre holds a New Year sale semi-regularly, with some big shows at least 20% off. It’s been rebranded this year to See It Live (previously it was Get Into London Theatre or the London Theatre New Year sale).
Tickets are either £10, £20, £30, £40 or £50, with no booking fees.
This year it’s running from 10am on 26 November 2024 for performances until February. It’s often extended into March.
Each March there’s usually an offer run in conjunction with The National Lottery. In 2022 it was a 2-4-1 vouchers while in 2023 it was a free £25 Theatre Token. The latter went viral and all tokens were snapped up within 24 hours.
However, unused tokens from March were made available again, with a final chance to get tokens taking place in May.
Tickets are limited and go very fast. If you join the waiting room before 11am you’ll be randomly allocated a spot in the queue. Those joining after 11am will be put at the back of the queue – which likely means you’ll miss out.
In order to claim the voucher you’ll need a Lotto ticket or scratchcard. You’ll find a reference number on your Lotto card which you’ll enter if you make it through the queue.
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Flash promotions & sales
These offers are special deals that we’ve spotted
Central Tickets: Get 10% extra credit with your first top-up
If you top up your Central Tickets account for the first time, you can get 10% added by Central Tickets, up to the value of £10.
The credit in your account is used as payment for seat filling bookings you make through Central Tickets. It can’t be used on West End offer tickets (listed in a separate tab on their site).
You won’t be able to get a refund on it, and it won’t be protected if Central Tickets were to go bust, so make sure you’ll make use of the money you top up before you do so.
Central Tickets will add up to £10, so you could get £110 worth of credit for £100.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.86% AER to 4.98% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.1%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
Theatre Tokens gift card discounts
There are occasionally discounts such as save 10% on Theatre Tokens – the official theatre gift card that’s valid at hundreds of locations nationwide and the TKTs Booth in the West End. We’ll add them here when we spot them.
Theatre Tokens: 10% off
If you buy a Theatre Tokens gift card and use the code Tfl then you can get 10% off your purchase. These gift cards can be redeemed at over 300 theatres nationwide and don’t have an expiry date.
You can order a total of £500 worth of gift cards per household, which would get you a £50 discount.
TodayTix: Boxing Day sale from £15 per ticket (expired)
TodayTix tends to run sales throughout the year and the latest is offering tickets from £15 for Boxing Day. There’s no end date published, but I’d expect it to be until the end of January, if not early December (though the actual performances can be after these dates).
Until 4 June you can book £25 tickets at 25 different West End shows via TodayTix. This includes Book of Mormon, We Will Rock You, Wizard of Oz and Punchdrunk’s Burnt City.
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.
Bike and cycling deals
Santander Cycles: 24 hours for free until 8 June
Santander Cycles is offering 24 hours of free rides on both classic and e-bikes until Sunday with the code SCSXSW until Sunday 8 June 2025. You can cycle for 60 minutes at a time over a 24-hour period.
Brompton is currently offering three days of free hire of its bikes when you download the app and use the code 3DAYSFREE in the discount code box, found in “settings”.
Before you can access this screen, it asks you for credit card details and takes 1p from your account to verify it. This is running until 28 February 2025.
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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Plus an exclusive £20 welcome bonus for new Quidco members (Terms apply)
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.
New Trading 212 customers get an increase of 0.86% AER to 4.98% for 12 months
More details ▼
Additional Info
Existing Trading 212 customers get a rate of 4.1%
FSCS Protected?: Yes
Allows transfers in?: Yes
Flexible ISA?: Yes
▲
Bus, tube and tram deals
£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.
Uber Member Days: 20% back on car hire, flights and trains (and more deals) (ended)
Subscribers to Uber’s ‘Uber One’ membership can get additional benefits from 16 May to 23 May as part of its new promotion ‘Uber Member Days’.
Plus, you can get a month trial for free until 23 May, even if you’ve tried it before. Although after this, it’ll renew at £4.99 per month or £49.99 per year. We have a full guide on the membership, but it’s worth noting that this gets you Disney+ if you get the annual membership, so it’s worthwhile if you pay for Disney+ anyway.
Offers for Uber Member Days include:
20% back in Uber credits for car hire (max £250 back)
