RPI inflation, 1990 to August 2026
£1,000 in 1990 is £3,343 today
That £1,000 bought 820 pints of lager in 1990. Today it buys 192.
Prices up 234%3.4% a year on averageMultiply by 3.34
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 | 1990 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lageroutran inflation£1.22 then, about £5.20 today | 820 | 192 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation£1.14 then, about £1.10 today | 877 | 911 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£1.64 then, about £17.87 today | 610 | 56 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation20p then, £1.80 today | 5,000 | 556 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.17 then, about £4.07 today | 461 | 246 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation83p then, about £4.20 today | 1,205 | 238 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£1.05 then, about £2.39 today | 952 | 419 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation£1.24 then, about £2.84 today | 806 | 352 |
| pints of milklagged inflation31p then, about 70p today | 3,279 | 1,429 |
| kg of rump steaklagged inflation£8.12 then, about £20.33 today | 123 | 49 |
| pints of bitter£1.09 then, about £4.09 today | 917 | 244 |
| sliced white loaves50p then, about £1.51 today | 2,000 | 664 |
| litres of unleaded42p then, about £1.48 today | 2,381 | 678 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £3,343 |
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
£57,683 → £278,784
Up 4.8×, against 3.3× for prices generally
Average pay
£10,540 → £39,312
A year's average earnings, up 3.7×
Years of pay for a house
5.5 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£3,730
What £1,000 in 1990 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices