RPI inflation, 1995 to July 2026
£1,000 in 1995 is £2,811 today
That £1,000 bought 602 pints of lager in 1995. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 181%3.3% a year on averageMultiply by 2.81
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 | 1995 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£1.66 then, about £5.17 today | 602 | 193 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation25p then, £1.80 today | 4,000 | 556 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£2.59 then, about £17.76 today | 386 | 56 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation92p then, about £1.09 today | 1,087 | 917 |
| pints of milklagged inflation36p then, about 70p today | 2,770 | 1,439 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.03 then, about £4.04 today | 493 | 247 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£1.18 then, about £2.38 today | 847 | 421 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation£1.30 then, about £2.83 today | 769 | 354 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation£1.17 then, about £4.17 today | 855 | 240 |
| kg of rump steaklagged inflation£8.57 then, about £20.21 today | 117 | 49 |
| litres of unleaded54p then, about £1.47 today | 1,852 | 682 |
| sliced white loaves52p then, about £1.50 today | 1,923 | 668 |
| pints of bitter£1.47 then, about £4.07 today | 680 | 246 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £2,811 |
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
£51,245 → £278,784
Up 5.4×, against 2.8× for prices generally
Average pay
£13,286 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 3.0×
Years of pay for a house
3.9 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£2,955
What £1,000 in 1995 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices