RPI inflation, 1997 to July 2026
£1,000 in 1997 is £2,661 today
That £1,000 bought 552 pints of lager in 1997. Today it buys 193.
Prices up 166%3.4% a year on averageMultiply by 2.66
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 | 1997 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| pints of lager£1.81 then, about £5.17 today | 552 | 193 |
| first-class stampsoutran inflation25p then, £1.80 today | 4,000 | 556 |
| kg of bananaslagged inflation£1.02 then, about £1.09 today | 980 | 917 |
| packs of 20 cigarettesoutran inflation£2.94 then, about £17.76 today | 340 | 56 |
| kg of roasting chickenlagged inflation£2.40 then, about £4.04 today | 417 | 247 |
| dozen eggslagged inflation£1.38 then, about £2.38 today | 725 | 421 |
| pints of milklagged inflation35p then, about 70p today | 2,849 | 1,439 |
| boxes of tea bagslagged inflation£1.34 then, about £2.83 today | 746 | 354 |
| nips of whiskyoutran inflation£1.29 then, about £4.17 today | 775 | 240 |
| kg of rump steak£8.68 then, about £20.21 today | 115 | 49 |
| litres of unleaded62p then, about £1.47 today | 1,613 | 682 |
| sliced white loaves52p then, about £1.50 today | 1,923 | 668 |
| pints of bitter£1.63 then, about £4.07 today | 613 | 246 |
| Same money, adjusted for inflation | £1,000 | £2,661 |
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
£59,199 → £278,784
Up 4.7×, against 2.7× for prices generally
Average pay
£14,378 → £39,260
A year's average earnings, up 2.7×
Years of pay for a house
4.1 → 7.1
Average house price divided by average annual pay
If it had tracked wages
£2,731
What £1,000 in 1997 would be today if it had grown with pay rather than prices