RPI inflation, 1987 to July 2026
£1,000 in 1987 is £4,113 today
That £1,000 bought 1,075 pints of lager in 1987. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 311%3.6% a year on averageMultiply by 4.11
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.
| Item | 1987 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lageroutran inflation93p then, about £5.17 today | 1,075 | 193 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation£1.06 then, about £1.09 today | 943 | 917 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£1.43 then, about £17.76 today | 699 | 56 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation17p then, £1.80 today | 5,882 | 556 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£1.81 then, about £4.04 today | 552 | 247 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation95p then, about £2.38 today | 1,053 | 421 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation68p then, about £4.17 today | 1,471 | 240 |
| pints of milklagged inflation25p then, about 70p today | 3,968 | 1,439 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation96p then, about £2.83 today | 1,042 | 354 |
| kg of rump steaklagged inflation£6.48 then, about £20.21 today | 154 | 49 |
| sliced white loaveslagged inflation44p then, about £1.50 today | 2,273 | 668 |
| pints of bitteroutran inflation83p then, about £4.07 today | 1,205 | 246 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £4,113 |
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.
Houses and wages
Inflation is one story. What people earned, and what a home cost, are the other two.
Average house
£43,164 → £278,784
Up 6.5×, against 4.1× for prices generally
Average pay
£7,966 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 4.9×
Years of pay for a house
5.4 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£4,928
What £1,000 in 1987 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices