CPI inflation, 1993 to August 2026
£1,000 in 1993 is £2,237 today
That £1,000 bought 654 pints of lager in 1993. Today it buys 192.
Prices up 124%2.4% a year on averageMultiply by 2.24
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 | 1993 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lageroutran inflation£1.53 then, about £5.20 today | 654 | 192 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation20p then, £1.80 today | 5,000 | 556 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£2.24 then, about £17.87 today | 446 | 56 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation£1.00 then, about £1.10 today | 1,000 | 911 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation£1.06 then, about £4.20 today | 943 | 238 |
| litres of unleadedoutran inflation49p then, about £1.48 today | 2,041 | 678 |
| pints of bitteroutran inflation£1.36 then, about £4.09 today | 735 | 244 |
| sliced white loavesoutran inflation55p then, about £1.51 today | 1,818 | 664 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.10 then, about £4.07 today | 476 | 246 |
| pints of milk34p then, about 70p today | 2,915 | 1,429 |
| kg of rump steak£8.51 then, about £20.33 today | 118 | 49 |
| dozen eggs£1.10 then, about £2.39 today | 909 | 419 |
| boxes of tea bags£1.24 then, about £2.84 today | 806 | 352 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £2,237 |
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
£51,211 → £278,784
Up 5.4×, against 2.2× for prices generally
Average pay
£12,402 → £39,312
A year's average earnings, up 3.2×
Years of pay for a house
4.1 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£3,170
What £1,000 in 1993 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices