How much did things cost in 1985?
These are prices of some sample items in 1985.
How much were these prices for someone on an average income in 1985? To get a feel for this, I have adjusted them for the increase in incomes from 1985 to today. You can see these adjusted prices in the column 'Income adjusted'.
| 1985 price | Income adjusted | |
|---|---|---|
| Gallon of petrol | £2.00 | £9 |
| Bottle of whisky (Grant's) (Tesco) | £6.99 | £31 |
| Bottle of sherry (Harvey's Bristol Cream) (Tesco) | £3.65 | £16 |
| Liebfraumilch (Tesco) | £1.69 | £7.60 |
| Martini Rosso (Tesco) | £2.55 | £11 |
| Kestrel lager 4 cans (Tesco) | £1.39 | £6.20 |
| Pint of beer | 77p | £3.50 |
| 20 cigarettes - Lambert & Butler King Size | £1.15 | £5.20 |
| 22" Grundig colour TV (Currys) | £339.99 | £1,500 |
| Sharp VHS recorder (Allders) | £369.99 | £1,700 |
| Sinclair Spectrum+ computer | £129.99 | £580 |
| Mobile phone - Motorola 8000X | £3000 | £14,000 |
| Daily Mirror newspaper | 17-18p | 77-81p |
| Average house price | £43,000 | £190,000 |
| 250g St Ivel Golden Meadow West Country butter | 45p | £2 |
| 100g Maxwell House coffee (Tesco) | £1.33 | £6 |
| Coca-Cola 4 cans(Asda) | 63p | £2.80 |
| Ford Sierra 1.3 Saloon | £5,788 | £26,000 |
| Lec fridge-freezer (Currys) | £149.99 | £670 |
| Hotpoint automatic washing machine (Currys) | £259.90 | £1,200 |
| Sanyo microwave oven (Currys) | £199.99 | £900 |
| Sainsbury's 6 packs of crisps | 69p | £3.10 |
| English Cheddar cheese (1lb) (Littlewoods) | £1.10 | £5 |
| Flora margarine 250 (Asda) | 38p | £1.70 |
The income adjusted prices are based on the Bank of England's Three Centuries Macroeconomic Dataset Version 2.3 - 30 June 2016. I have updated the income figures based on the ONS: Series code KAB9, adjusted to bring the figures inline with the Bank of England's.
For a comparison of prices in 1985 adjusted for inflation see Infation adjusted prices for 1985
By Steven Braggs, February 2021, updated May 2022
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