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The fuel price postcode lottery: cheapest and dearest towns right now

Our data · by the Pricewatcher team · updated 16 July 2026

A litre of E10 is the same product everywhere in Britain — same standard, often the same refinery. What you pay for it depends, to a startling degree, on your postcode. This page is generated from our live price data across the UK towns we track, and it updates as the data does.

Right now, the gap between the cheapest and dearest town we track is 16.0p per litre — about £8.80 on a 55-litre tank, for identical fuel.

Cheapest towns today (best local E10 price)

#TownCheapest E10Where
1Manchester135.9p/LSandgate Service Station
2Belfast139.9p/LEirsise Trading Ltd
3Ipswich140.9p/LSAINSBURYS HADLEIGH ROAD
4Wolverhampton141.6p/LBlakenhall Service Station
5Birmingham141.9p/LCOSTCO WHOLESALE BIRMINGHAM
6Glasgow141.9p/LCOSTCO WHOLESALE GLASGOW
7Luton141.9p/LFlamstead Filling Station
8York142.7p/LASDA YORK SUPERSTORE
9Leeds142.9p/LCOSTCO WHOLESALE LEEDS
10Liverpool142.9p/LCOSTCO WHOLESALE LIVERPOOL

Dearest towns today

#TownCheapest E10Where
1Cambridge151.9p/LFULBOURN CHERRY HINTON SUPERSTORE - PETROL FILLING STATION
2Exeter151.5p/Lredlands service station
3Aberdeen150.9p/LSAINSBURYS ABERDEEN
4Swindon149.9p/LBREEZE HARVEST ENERGY SWINDON BREEZE
5Bournemouth149.9p/LSpur End Service Station
6Plymouth149.9p/LMFG MORRISONS PLYMSTOCK
7Northampton149.9p/LMFG MORRISONS NORTHAMPTON VICTORIA PROMENADE
8Milton Keynes149.9p/LMFG MORRISONS MILTON KEYNES WESTCROFT
9Slough149.9p/LDatchet Green Filling Station
10Portsmouth149.9p/LPORTSMOUTH EXTRA - PETROL FILLING STATION

Why the lottery exists

  • Supermarket density. Towns with several competing supermarket forecourts are reliably cheap; towns without one pay a structural premium.
  • Local competition. Two stations within sight of each other discipline one another; a village monopolist has no such pressure.
  • Costs and logistics. Rents, wages and tanker distance all vary — but they explain far less of the gap than competition does.

What to do with this

You cannot move house for petrol, but the same effect operates within towns: the spread between stations five minutes apart is routinely 8–12p. Check your own area with a live search — and if your town looks expensive here, the cheapest station in it is still linked from its town page.

See today’s prices near you — fuel and EV charging, live, free, no app needed: search now.

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