UK

People were a lot poorer in the 1960s. The average weekly pay packet was less than £10 per week. Allowing for inflation that is £150 in today's money. Today average weekly earnings are more than £500.

Housing

Houses were a lot cheaper in the 1960s than today:

1960 (First quarter)

£2,189

£33,000 (In today's money)

1969 (Last quarter)

£4,312

£47,500 (In today's money)

House prices rose faster than inflation in the 1960s. They were still much more affordable than today. Lenders were more cautious. Banks and building societies lent smaller multiples of income and would only consider a husband's income, not his wife's.

Telephone calls

Only one in five households had a telephone in the 1960s. Telephone calls were so expensive in the 1960s. People timed them with a telephone timer.

You paid a quarterly rental of £3 10s (or £3.50) and you paid for each call you made.

Quarterly rental

£3 10s (£3.50)

£42 (In today's money)

6 minute local call at peak time

2d (Less than 1p)

10p (In today's money)

12 minute local call in evening

10p (In today's money)

3 minute trunk call (60 miles) in evening

2 shillings (10p)

£1.20 (In today's money)

People thought telephone calls were more expensive than they were. They sometimes bought a telephone timer, like an egg timer, to make sure they did not talk for too long on the phone.

Today most people combine telephone with broadband and other services. Telephone only packages are still available though. The cheapest I could find was with the Post Office. Line rental is £39 per quarter and all calls 15p per minute (as of March 2019).

Line rental is a bit cheaper today. Local calls were cheaper in the 1960s, but long distance calls dearer.

Newspapers

The Daily Mirror was Britain's most popular paper in the 1960s. The Daily Express came second and the Daily Telegraph third.

The UK Government's Prices and Incomes Board controlled the prices of newspapers in the 1960s. It is strange to see that newspapers in the 1960s had the same price.

Daily Mirror - 1960 (2½d) 1969 (5d)
Daily Express - 1960 (2½d) 1969 (5d)
Daily Telegraph - 1960 (2½d) 1969 (5d)

In today's money newspapers prices increased from 15p in 1960 to 22p in 1969.

Today newspapers are much more expensive:

Daily Mirror - 75p
Daily Express - 90p
Daily Telegraph - £2

Newspaper circulation has halved since the 1960s. Newspapers have to compete with online sources of news.

3d stamp c1965. A letter or postcard cost just 3d to send before 1965.

Posting letters

At the beginning of the 1960s, it cost just 3d (or just over 1p) to post a letter in the UK. The GPO (General Post Office) increased the cost to 4d in 1965. In 1968 the GPO started a new two-tier system. You could still post a letter for 4d, but if you paid 5d it was more likely to be delivered the following day.

Second class (4d) (Post Service)

4d (1968 cost)

19p (Adjust for inflation)

58p (In today's money)

First class (5d) (Post Service)

5d (1968 cost)

24p (Adjust for inflation)

67p (In today's money)

Television

Televisions were expensive in the 1960s. A black and white set cost about £70 (or over £1000 allowing for inflation).

Colour TV started in 1967. A color TV set was very expensive. In 1968 a Baird 701 cost £279, or £3200 in today's money. TV sets in those days were unreliable, so you would have to budget for some high repair bills and an extra £5 for a color television licence.

Many people chose to rent rather than buy a TV in the 1960s. If you rented a color set it cost from 30s to 40s a week. (£1.50 to £2). In today's money that would be £17 to £23.

Groceries

Typical groceries people bought in the 1960s were:

Bread (large loaf)

1s 2½d (Cost 1965)

£1 (In today's money)

59p to £1.10 (Typical price today)

Butter (1lb)

1s 3d to 2s 10d (Cost 1965)

80p to £1.81 (In today's money)

£3.45 (500g) (Typical price today)

Margarine (1lb)

1s 3d to 2s 10d (Cost 1965)

80p to £1.81 (In today's Money)

£1.80 (500g Flora Spreadable) (Typical price today)

Back bacon (pre-packed, smoked per lb)

4s 10d to 7s 10d (Cost 1965)

£3.09 to £5 (In today's money)

£2.39 to £4.50 (500g) (Typical price today)

Eggs - 1 dozen

3s 8d to 4s 6d (Cost 1965)

£1.22 to £2.87 (In today's money)

£1.80 to £3.00 (Typical price today)

Evaporated milk

1s to 1s 4d (Cost 1965)

63p to 85p (In today's money)

70p to £1.20 (Typical price today)

Baked beans (16 oz tin)

9d to 1s 3d (Cost 1965)

48p to 80p (In today's money)

75p (Typical price today)

Corned beef (12 oz tin)

1s 11d to 4s 1d (Cost 1965)

69p to £1.12 (In today's money)

£2.60 (340g) (Typical price today)

Cornflakes (12 oz)

1s 4d to 1s 10d (Cost 1965)

85p to £1.17 (In today's money)

£1.30 (375g Sainsbury's SO) (Typival price today)

Sugar (2lb)

1s 3d to 1s 9d (Cost 1965)

80p to £1.12 (In today's money)

75p (1kg Sainsbury's) (Typical price today)

Tea (loose leaf PG Tips ¼lb)

1s 4½d to 1s 9d (Cost 1965)

85p to £1.23 (In today's money)

£2 for 250g (approx ½1b) (Typical price today)

Scouring powder - Ajax (large tin)

1s 4d (Cost 1965)

85p (In today's money)

Ajax 396g - £1.99 (Typical price today)

Many of these 1960s staples are dearer today. That is probably because they are less popular. Loose leaf tea is a minority product today. Most people use margarine instead of butter.

Lloyds Bank cheque, 1960s. The crown inside a circle on the right hand side shows Stamp Duty paid

Writing a cheque

Banking is one service which is much cheaper today than it was in the 1960s. Bank charges had an air of mystery about them.

There was a 2d stamp duty payable on every cheque. The Treasury dropped this tax when Britain switched to Decimal Currency in 1971.

The banks also had their own charges over which the manager had discretion.

There were five big banks in the 1960s. Barclays and Lloyds are familiar. In the 1960s there were also Midland (HSBC today), Westminster and National Provincial Banks. These last two merged to form the NatWest Bank.

How much you paid for each transaction depended on how much money you kept in your current account and how much banking you did. If your balance was less than £50 (or £600 in today's money) you could expect to pay about 8d per cheque. (or 41p in today's money). Going back to the 1960s would be quite a shock for most of us who are used to free banking.

If you had more than £200 (or £2400 in today's money) you paid no charges to the bank. But you still paid the 2d stamp duty.

Motoring

The cost of a gallon of petrol increased from 4s 8d (23p) in 1960 to 6s 6d (33p) in 1969. This increase was down to fuel duty which rose from 2s 6d (1960) to 4s 6d (1969). Today a gallon of petrol costs £5.68. Fuel duty is £2.63 per gallon.

Road fund license in 1965 was £17 10s per year. In today's money that is £223.

Motorist also needed to pay 5s (25p) per year for a driving licence.

A made-to-measure suit

In the 1960s most men went to a tailor to have a suit made. That sounds an extravagance today, but economies of scale meant prices were reasonable.

A suit from Montague Burton, Britain's largest tailoring chain, cost around £24. That's about £300 in today's money.

This Imperial transistor radio is very similar to the Jupiter Six-de-luxe sold by Woolworths in 1966

Transistor radio

The pocket transistor radio was everyone's favorite gadget in the 1960s. By the middle of the decade cheap imports from Hong Kong and Japan had killed off the UK industry. A cheap radio from Woolworths (made in Hong Kong, of course) cost £3 12 3d. In today's money that would have been more than £40. It came with a fancy name, the Jupiter Six-deluxe and a leather carrying case. The cheapest UK-made alternative, the Philips Popmaster Mk2, cost more than twice as much at £7 19s 6d.

Train fares

In the 1960s train fares were much simpler. There was only one railway operator, British Rail. There were First and Second Class tickets and a few cheap fare options, but there was not the multiplicity of fare choices available today.

These are a few examples:

1965 Manchester to London - Off-Peak day return £2 12s
1965 Manchester to London - Ordinary day return (Second Class) £5
1968 London to Birmingham - First Class single - £6
1968 London to Birmingham - Second Class single - £3 18s
1968 London to Paris (train and ferry, sharing a cabin) - £9 18s
1968 London to Bournemouth - First Class return - 53s
1968 London to Bournemouth - Second Class return - 35s

Cars

The cheapest car for sale in the UK in 1965 was the Fiat 500. You could buy one for £470. There was even a sunroof included! In today's money that would have been £5,600. You would struggle to find a new car for that price in Britain today.

The most expensive cars were two Italian supercars, the Ferrari 275 LM and the Ferrari Superfast PF Coupé. The manufacturer's price for each car was £11,519. In today's money they would have cost £158,000.

An average house cost £3,400 in 1965. You could have bought three houses for the price of the Ferrari.

Most cars cost from £500 (£6,800 in today's money) for small cars such as the Mini and Ford Anglia, to around £1000 (£13,600) for the large Fords, Vauxhalls and Austins. Cars were much cheaper in the 1960s than today. Try finding a new BMW 5 series for £13,000.

This table shows a range of well-known cars and their prices in 1965.

Austin/Morris Mini

£470

£6,400 (In today's money)

Reliant 3 Wheeler

£487

£6,700 (In today's money)

Ford Anglia

£492

£6,700 (In today's money)

Hillman Imp

£509

£7,000 (In today's money)

Vauxhall Viva

£538

£7,400 (In today's money)

MG Midget

£624

£8,500 (In today's money)

Austin 1100

£644

£8,800 (In today's money)

Volkswagen Beetle

£650

£8,100 (In today's money)

Triumph Spitfire

£666

£9,100 (In today's money)

Ford Cortina (four door)

£668

£9,100 (In today's money)

Hillman Minx

£680

£9,300 (In today's money)

Vauxhall Victor 101

£690

£9,400 (In today's money)

Morris Oxford

£782

£10,700 (In today's money)

Austin 1800

£833

£11,400 (In today's money)

MGB

£855

£11,700 (In today's money)

Ford Zephyr 6

£900

£12,300 (In today's money)

Triumph TR4A

£968

£13,200 (In today's money)

Vauxhall Cresta

£974

£13,000 (In today's money)

Austin Westminster

£998

£13,700 (In today's money)

Humber Hawk

£1,095

£15,000 (In today's money)

Austin-Healey 3000

£1,107

£15,000 (In today's money)

Rover 2000

£1,298

£18,000 (In today's money)

Jaguar MkII 2.4 litre

£1,389

£19,000 (In today's money)

Jaguar E-Type

£1,867

£25,000 (In today's money)

Aston Martin DB5

£4,412

£60,000 (In today's money)

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