01
We pay for everything
Every entry ticket, train fare, room and meal on this site was bought at the normal price with our own money. We do not accept press trips, comped rooms or free entry.
About the bureau
A small desk in Stepney Green with a lot of receipts.
Rate.ie is four people, one office above a shop on Jubilee Street, and a filing cabinet of train tickets. We price things ourselves, walk the routes ourselves, and take no money from anyone we write about.
Founded 2016London E14 peopleNo affiliate links
- 2016
- Year we started
- 18
- Guide pages, all written in-house
- £0
- Received from anyone we mention
How we work
Six rules we have never broken.
These are the reasons the site is smaller than it could be and slower to update than the affiliate blogs. We think it is the right trade.
02
No affiliate links
Not one, anywhere on the site. Nobody pays us for a placement, a mention or a recommendation, which is why we can tell you the London Eye is not worth £36.
03
Prices carry a date
Every figure on the site was checked by hand, and we say when. If a number is more than twelve months old we either recheck it or remove it.
04
We say when to skip something
A guide that recommends everything is a catalogue. Roughly one in six things we price, we tell you not to bother with.
05
We publish the mistakes
When we get something wrong, we correct it in place and note what changed. Fares move, attractions close, kitchens change their hours.
06
No tracking we do not need
Anonymous page counts, if you allow them, and nothing else. No ad networks, no data sold, no third-party pixels.
The method
How a page gets onto this site.
Slower than it sounds and considerably slower than the alternative. Roughly six weeks from first draft to publication.
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01
Step one
Collect the actual questions
Every guide starts from things people have written to us about, not from keyword volume. If nobody has asked, we do not write it.
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Step two
Establish the facts
Operator websites, National Rail data, NHS guidance, official attraction pricing. Primary sources only, and we record where each figure came from.
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Step three
Go and check
Somebody travels the route, buys the ticket, eats the meal and times the walk. This is the part the affiliate sites skip and it is the whole point.
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Step four
Write it plainly
One idea per paragraph, no filler, no "nestled in the heart of". If a sentence does not help you make a decision, it comes out.
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Step five
Second read for accuracy
A different person checks every number against its source and flags anything that reads as a guess. Roughly a fifth of figures change at this stage.
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Step six
Recheck twice a year
February and September. Fares, opening hours and prices all move; anything we cannot re-verify gets deleted rather than left to rot.
The desk
Four people, and what each of them does.
Eleanor N.
Editor
Started the site in 2016 after a decade on regional newspapers. Writes the London and etiquette pages and owns the final read on every number.
Marcus C.
Transport & fares
Former rail industry analyst. Maintains the fare tables, tests split-ticketing claims and is the reason the twelve-week rule is on the homepage.
Priya A.
Food & regions
Trained as a chef, then stopped. Covers pubs, regional cooking and everything north of Birmingham, which she insists is most of the good part.
Tom O.
Costs & research
Keeps the receipts. Builds the budget tiers, prices the attractions and reruns every figure each February and September.
By the numbers
What the last twelve months looked like.
100
Costs paid by us
No comped anything
21
Figures changed at review
September 2025 pass
64
Guides updated in the last 6 months
17
Things we tell you to skip
What we do not do
Four things you will not find here.
- No booking engine. We do not sell hotels, trains or tours, and we take no commission on any of them.
- No sponsored posts. Nothing on the site was paid for by a tourist board, hotel group or attraction.
- No AI-generated guides. Every page was written by one of the four people above and read by another.
- No comment section. Write to us instead — we read everything and it makes the site better.
The office
222–226 Jubilee Street, E1.
A first-floor room in Stepney Green with a view of a launderette, ten minutes from Whitechapel and twelve from Liverpool Street. It is not glamorous and it is the reason the London pages are accurate.
- 222–226 Jubilee St, Stepney Green, London E1 3BS, United Kingdom
- Weekdays 09:00–18:00 UK time
- Telephone +44 20 7790 1050
- Email support@rate.ie
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Corrections
Found a wrong price or a closed restaurant? Tell us and we will check it within a week and credit the correction.
Always welcome
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Questions
Trip planning, fares, accessibility, dietary requirements. We answer everything, usually within two working days.
Free, no catch
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Press
Happy to talk about English travel costs, rail pricing and why free museums matter. Quotes attributed to the bureau.
Via email
04
Partnerships
We do not take sponsorship, affiliate deals or paid placements. Please do not send a media kit.
The answer is no
Why is an England guide on a .ie domain?
Because that is the domain the bureau started with in 2016, when the first version of this site covered Ireland and Britain together. We narrowed the scope to England and kept the name.
How do you make money if there are no affiliate links?
Consulting work for regional tourism organisations, mostly on accessibility and public transport information. It is deliberately walled off from editorial — no client sees a page before it publishes, and none of them can request changes.
Are your prices guaranteed?
No, and nobody's are. Fares and admission prices change, sometimes at short notice. Every figure carries the date we checked it, and we recheck the whole site each February and September.
Can I reuse your tables or text?
Short quotes with a link, yes and gladly. Wholesale copying of the tables, no — they took a long time to compile. Ask us and we will usually say yes to something reasonable.
Do you cover Scotland, Wales or Ireland?
Not currently. We would rather be genuinely reliable about one country than roughly right about four. Both are two hours from London if you want to add them yourself.
Who checks the accessibility information?
We do, in person, and we say so where we have not. If a page is silent on step-free access it means we have not verified it, not that it is fine.
Say hello
Questions, corrections or a difficult itinerary?
Write to us and a person will read it. We answer trip questions free, usually within two working days, and we always want to hear about a wrong price.
Call the bureau
+44 20 7790 1050
Email
support@rate.ie
Office
222–226 Jubilee St, Stepney Green,
London E1 3BS, United Kingdom
London E1 3BS, United Kingdom