pound.one

RPI inflation, 1951 to July 2026

£1,000 in 1951 is £45,904 today

That £1,000 bought 4,348 dozen eggs in 1951. Today it buys 421.

Prices up 4,490%5.2% a year on averageMultiply by 45.90

Measured with the Retail Prices Index, the only official series that runs back to 1948. Use CPI instead.

×46 £1 in 1951£45.90 today
It takes 45.9 of today's pounds to match one from 1951
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What £1,000 buys

Official average shop prices, not a basket. Things marked as outrunning inflation got dearer faster than everything else; things that lagged got relatively cheaper.

Item1951Today
dozen eggslagged inflation23p then, about £2.38 today4,348421
pints of milklagged inflation2p then, about 70p today43,4781,439
Same money, adjusted for inflation£1,000£45,904

The ONS stopped publishing these average prices in January 2025. Today's figures are that last reading moved on with inflation, so treat them as close rather than exact.