Travel at a discount
There are regional schemes that offer cheap or free travel to young people. In London, travel on buses is free with a 16+ Zip Oyster photocard, rather than £1.75 a trip, and you get 50% off adult pay as you go fares on the tube, DLR and London Overground until 30 September in the year after your 18th birthday. If you are 19 and turned 18 before 31 August, live in Greater London and are in the sixth form, college or training, you are still eligible for the concession.
You would usually need to apply for a card, provide a photo of yourself and pay a £15 admin fee. However, Transport for London has suspended applications for discounted travelcards because of a cybersecurity incident.
When the suspension is lifted, if you are 18 or over, a student and living in a London borough, you can get 30% off adult-rate travelcards and bus and tram pass season tickets with an 18+ Student Oyster photo card. However, you don’t get the discount for pay as you go fares. It lasts three years. There is a £20 administration cost for the 16+ zipcard and 18+ photocard.
System One membership lets you buy discounted Greater Manchester travel tickets on buses and trains if you are aged between 16 and 21. Membership is free and lasts until the day before your 22nd birthday, and you have to upload a photo of your passport to qualify. Through the scheme a 28-day Bee AnyBus Young Person pass costs £61.90, whereas for adults it is £85.40 – a £23.50 saving.
In Scotland, if you are under 22, you are eligible to apply for free bus travel across the country under the Free Bus Travel Scheme. You need a National Entitlement Card or Young Scot NEC to qualify.
The My Travel Pass card will get you 30% off bus fares in Wales if you are aged from 16 to 21. You need to apply for a pass but it is free to sign up.
To travel cross-country, you can use a National Express young person coachcard if you are between 16 and 26. It offers 15% off travel for £15 a year, or £35 for three years, plus £3 for postage and packaging. You can use it to travel at any time as there are no restrictions on peak and off peak tickets.
A National Railcard lets you buy discounted tickets on trains in England, Scotland, and Wales. The 16-25 railcard costs £30 for a year, or £70 for three years, and you get a third off rail fares. If you buy a three-year pass the day before your 24th birthday, it will run until you are 27.
You can connect your railcard to your Oyster card to save on some journeys in London. Once connected, you get a third off on off-peak pay as you go travel. The Oyster card costs £7 to buy. For full details, check out the TfL website and Trainline.
If you fancy going further afield on the train, you could get the Interrail Global Youth Pass and save 25% on standard adult prices for travel across Europe. You must be 27 or younger on the date you start your trip. The five-day pass costs €239 (£198) for second class compared with €318 (£264) for an adult pass.
Watch films for less
Many cinemas offer cheaper showings for those under 25. With the Picturehouse U25 membership, tickets cost £4.99 Monday to Thursday, or £5.99 for London cinemas, plus a booking fee. Curzon cinemas offer a similar under-25 membership, which gives you 10% off food and drink, discounts on home cinema rentals, and tickets from £9 at peak times and £6 during off-peak hours. Both are free to join.
If you are under the age of 26, you can also get £3 film tickets at BFI Southbank in London and discounted tickets to BFI festivals. You need a free BFI account to access the discount and your age is verified using AgeChecked. The offer does not apply to general release titles at the BFI Imax. Also in London, the Young Barbican membership is free and gets you £5 tickets to the cinema, including new release films. You enter your age when signing up and need to bring photo ID along with you.
Watch a performance
Theatres across the country offer discounts. The Everyman and Playhouse theatres in Liverpool offer £5 tickets with a free YEP membership for those aged between 14 and 25. You also get 10% off food and drink. When you sign up, you have to enter your date of birth and the date you turn 26.
With the Lowry Manchester under-30s scheme you can see dramas, musicals, circus, dance and much more for £10 a time. You have to use the promo U30 when booking tickets, and can only book two for each person, but as long as the person under 30 has booked, anyone over 30 can join them. You may need to show ID to a member of staff on arrival.
At Sadler’s Wells in London, you can get £10 tickets if you sign up to the Barclays Dance Pass for 16- to 30-year-olds. You can book up to two tickets for each performance.
Also in London, the National Theatre offers similar cut-rate tickets to under-25s, at £10 or under for shows, and more are released every month. Tickets are limited to two each. You may be asked for ID on the door.
Visit a gallery
Many galleries offer young person discounts or free entry to exhibitions and events. Tate Collective for 16- to 25-year-olds is free to join and gets you £5 exhibition tickets, free events and discounts across Tate galleries. You can also get £5 tickets to exhibitions at the Barbican with the Young Barbican membership.
An under-30 National Art pass costs £36 annually if you sign up to a direct debit, or £48 for a one-off card payment, and gets you reduced entry to museums, galleries and historic places across the UK. You get free entry to more than 250 places and 50% off some exhibitions. You can also get discounts in some of the museums’ shops and cafes.
Get moving
Look out for discounted membership at gyms and sports clubs. Village Health and Wellness Club gym has sites from Aberdeen to Watford, and offers a young peoples membership to those aged 16 to 22. The prices vary by location, but in Liverpool it costs £46 a month, compared with £70 for a similar adult membership.
In London, Paddington sports club offers a young person fitness membership, which gives you access to the gym and classes, for £263 a year if you are aged between 18 and 24. That is just under £22 a month, or about £9 cheaper than the adult membership.
Shop around
If you are at university or a graduate it is worth checking out discount directories such as Save the Student as you can find lots of reductions that aren’t always well advertised.
“A couple of the major student discount providers run graduate discount schemes, too, helping you retain access to hundreds of discounts even after you leave uni,” says Tom Allingham, a money expert at Save the Student. UNiDAYS offers GRADLiFE, which has discounts for graduates, and Student Beans has discounts for graduates with the Grad Beans membership. Both are free to sign up for but you have to verify your graduate status.
On Youth Discount you can get 10% off for 15- 25-year-olds at Peachy Den, 15% off for 16- to 26-year-olds at Bench, 10% off at Monki for 16- to 26-year-olds, 10% off almost everything at Threadbare and 10% off for under 26s at Farfetch.
Grind coffee offers £5 off to under-26s on its first three coffee deliveries.
If you find something you like, you can also use price comparison tools such as Google Shopping or Idealo to see if you have got the best deal.
