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[Doctor Gollum]

Have you considered flying?

Mancchester to Lundun starts at £90.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Buying the ticket the day before is unlikely to yield anything resembling a saving, no different to booking a flight or a hotel.

It will if you can split ticket

[Mr Skrunts]

Have you considered flying?

Mancchester to Lundun starts at £90.

Manchester to Tenneriefe was from £20 last year, so I would be off there if I was to fly  (and I have free bed to sleep in if I do)

[TheBoy]

My experience is that the only real benefit is in 'normal' times, you have a guaranteed seat if there is a remote possibility the train is likely to be fully booked up.

Nope.  No matter how far in advance you pay.

I disagree.
Before this Covid malarky, I often used Virgin trains (which became Avanti) on the East Coast line from Leeds and on the West Coast line from Preston, and I was always allocated a carriage and seat no. on the ticket. The smaller rail networks such as Cross Country, Northern Rail etc, never allocated seat numbers.  If you were travelling from a 'hub' such as Leeds or Preston rather than smaller stations,  it seems, pre Covid, seats were allocated.
Initially, after the start of Covid, they continued to allocate seats to ensure social distancing, but at the moment, travelling for work on Avanti during lockdown is quiet, it appears they don't currently allocate seating on Standard travel (First Class is probably different with allocated seating, but I havent had that pleasure..)

Virgin back in the day often had a habit of pulling the seat reservation on the MK to Euston route.  I've spent many a journey stood when I had been originally given an allocated seat.  Or worse, they didn't always tell you they had double booked a seat, and you got on and went to your seat, and somebody else was there, complete with a ticket stating they had allocated the seat - which the few times I queried it with the conductor train manager, it turns out to be quite common, to avoid longer journey passengers having to move so much.

[TheBoy]

Have you considered flying?

Mancchester to Lundun starts at £90.

Takes too long, thats the trouble with air travel within the UK.

I used to do Luton to Glasgow a fair bit back in the day, it was always quicker to drive.  As by the time I'd pissed around getting to Luton, checking in (was before online check in was common), tolerating the security checks, getting on the plane, tolerating the hour flight, disembarking, and then flagging down a taxi to get to central Glasgow....   ...well the car was quicker, I haven't had to mix with the great unwashed, and I could have my bongo bongo tunes keeping me company all the way up the M6/M74...