Beer Bubble: How Price Of A Pint Has Risen Twenty-Fold Over Four Decades

[Sancho Panza]

Telegraph 7/3/14

'If the cost of a house seems to have gone through the metaphorical roof over the past 40 years, it is not the only commodity to have been fizzing. The price of beer has risen even more dramatically. A pint of lager has gone up 20-fold, or by 1,948 per cent, since 1973. The average detached house, by comparison, went from £16,980 to £305,391, a relatively modest 1,699 per cent rise.

Economists warned on Thursday that a growing portion of take-home pay is being devoured by basic spending in shops, pubs and at the petrol pump and the situation is worsening as a result of slow wage growth in the wake of the financial crisis.

Ashish Misra of Lloyds Bank Private Banking, which conducted the study, said that in another 40 years, an individual would need £3 million to enjoy the same lifestyle as a millionaire today.

“There is no doubt that the value of money has fallen dramatically since 1973,” he said.

“It is likely to be reduced significantly further over the next 40 years even if inflation is kept firmly under control.”

The research, using data provided by the Office for National Statistics, found that draught lager had risen from 14p a pint in 1973 to £2.87 last year. Petrol prices were 17 times as high, with the price of a litre of diesel growing to around £1.41, from 8p in 1973.

An average detached house now costs 18 times as much as it did in the same year. By comparison, the average weekly wage has risen a a little under fifteen-fold in four decades, from £42 to £620.

On a more positive note, the cost of most foods, including milk, apples, bread, butter and carrots has risen more slowly than the average wage.

Even so, the value of the pound has shrunk overall so much that £9.48 in 1973 would have the same spending power as £100 today. In other words, the value of £1 has fallen by 91 per cent.

Looking ahead, Lloyds suggested that anyone shopping in 2053 will need to spend £311 to buy goods that would cost £100 today.

It based its estimates on an annual rise of 2.8 per cent in the retail prices index (RPI). This is consistent with the Government’s target for inflation.

By decade, retail prices grew most rapidly between 1973 and 1983, at an annual average rate of 13.6pc. The lowest inflation was between 1993 and 2003, Lloyds said, at 2.6 per cent annually. In the decade to 2013, annual inflation averaged 3.3 per cent.'

[kjw]

Good job lager isn't still 14p a pint or I'd be long dead by now

[Ah-so]

House prices were also in a bubble in 1973.

[interestrateripoff]

Taxy taxy.

[Butthead]

Very interesting. Did anything significant happen in the early '70s I wonder?

Nixon takes US off gold standard

...but ultimately Nixon, relying heavily on the advice of the self-confident Connally, decided to break up Bretton Woods by suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold

[Sancho Panza]

House prices were also in a bubble in 1973.

That's as maybe.Oop north and in the Midlands,it's a moot point when being discussed in an empty/disused pub.

[terryturbojr]

I would love £2.87 pints, I was paying £5.20 a pint on Saturday.

Edited March 7, 2014 by terryturbojr

[the gardener]

I would love £2.87 pints, I was paying £5.20 a pint on Saturday.

Or you can brew your own for less than 50p a pint.

I'm off to do so now in fact.

[terryturbojr]

Or you can brew your own for less than 50p a pint.

I'm off to do so now in fact.

I've just started. Only 2 extract brews down so far (one American IPA w. Cascade and a blonde ale with Citra and Nelson Sauvin) but well and truly have the bug. Have ingredients for a couple more but finding time to brew around a 3 month and a 2 year old is tricky.

Still nice to go down the pub occasionally though.

[Wurzel Of Highbridge]

Or you can brew your own for less than 50p a pint.

I'm off to do so now in fact.

I recommend the following Brew Dog Kits:

Evil Dog American Double IPA 4.7 Kg Beer Kit 7.2%

Hammer of Thor Special Gravity Lager 4.0 Kg Beer Kit 6.0%

In a few of weeks and you have excellent carbonated bottle conditioned beer, works out at 60p per pint. If you want to socialize whilst drinking then either meetup with friends or use a webcam. Not much need for pubs these days!

[terryturbojr]

I recommend the following Brew Dog Kits:

Evil Dog American Double IPA 4.7 Kg Beer Kit 7.2%

Hammer of Thor Special Gravity Lager 4.0 Kg Beer Kit 6.0%

In a few of weeks and you have excellent carbonated bottle conditioned beer, works out at 60p per pint. If you want to socialize whilst drinking then either meetup with friends or use a webcam. Not much need for pubs these days!

I'd been tempted by that Evil Dog one and fancy doing a couple of kits just for ease/lack of time versus boiling. Have heard good things about it.

[okaycuckoo]

If you want to socialize whilst drinking then either meetup with friends or use a webcam. Not much need for pubs these days!

The virtual pub? How does that work, multiple screens?

[Wurzel Of Highbridge]

The virtual pub? How does that work, multiple screens?

Lots of small windows or multiple monitors, if you have a premium skype account then you can add multiple people on a call.

http://www.skype.com/en/features/group-video-chat/

[Sancho Panza]

http://www.catereran...hould-close.htm

'Pub numbers have long been in decline in the UK, with the BBPA estimating that the UK had fewer than 50,000 establishments in 2012, versus over 60,000 10 years ago'

Edited March 7, 2014 by Sancho Panza

[Eddie_George]

Lots of small windows or multiple monitors, if you have a premium skype account then you can add multiple people on a call.

http://www.skype.com/en/features/group-video-chat/

Google's Hangouts does that for free I think.

[Wurzel Of Highbridge]

Google's Hangouts does that for free I think.

Good point. Most of my friends us skype, I will have to convert them.

[motch]

How much did a pint cost from a shop/supermarket then and now? can buy for around 50-75p a pint nowadays. the big increase is paying for the premises/rates/charges/wages.

[John51]

iirc, what supermarkets there were in 1973 didn't sell booze. You either bought bottles of beer from the local pub or relied on 'Davenports...Beer at home' which came round about once a week.

For homebrewed beer, it makes a huge difference in quality if you empty the beerkit (and sugar) into 2 litres of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Needs a BIG pan though.

Easiest these days is to make vodka. Just under £400 for a T500 still and shop strength spirit will costs you less than £1.50 a litre including leccy.

[tinker]

How much did a pint cost from a shop/supermarket then and now? can buy for around 50-75p a pint nowadays. the big increase is paying for the premises/rates/charges/wages.

Sounds like the kind of thing politicians say to justify minimum pricing referring to the basic lines that actually don't contain any alcohol (well 1%) - it is simply not the case. The 4-can packs have been increasing in price over recent times (use mysupermarket.co.uk for price comparisons) typically around £1 a 440ml can now. Deals* are less common now and pack sizes have decreased.

The other significant cost increase will be down to tax - I believe it's a third of the cost.

*That said, Morrisons have an offer on lager - 18 Stella for £10, if you like that sort of thing. They've lowered the strength so it's not as nice as it was.

Edited March 7, 2014 by tinker

[DabHand]

May l am incorrect, but in the early 70's a decent 3 bed semi with big garden in good area was low single digit k. i.e. 4 grand. Now that house is 230k so that's 50x anyones money.

I think the basic premise of this article is shite, no?

[Goat]

For homebrewed beer, it makes a huge difference in quality if you empty the beerkit (and sugar) into 2 litres of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Needs a BIG pan though.

I'm surprised by that, I think you'd end up boiling off a lot of the hop aroma, which would adversely affect the final product.

[Errol]

How much did a pint cost from a shop/supermarket then and now? can buy for around 50-75p a pint nowadays. the big increase is paying for the premises/rates/charges/wages.

You have to compare like with like as well. Beer isn't all the same. There is high and low quality.

[200p]

1978ish Trivia.

How much did Ford Prefect pay the Landlord, for 6 pints of bitter?

A) Under £5

B ) Under £10

C) Under £15

D) Under £20

The answer is 10:50 minutes in

Edited March 7, 2014 by 200p

[whitevanman]

TPTB don't want us meeting in pubs and talking about things without a government moderator present. They'd much rather we got pissed at home and allowed the idiot box to fill out heads with authorised opinions.

Also, £620 average weekly wage?

[Wurzel Of Highbridge]

iirc, what supermarkets there were in 1973 didn't sell booze. You either bought bottles of beer from the local pub or relied on 'Davenports...Beer at home' which came round about once a week.

For homebrewed beer, it makes a huge difference in quality if you empty the beerkit (and sugar) into 2 litres of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Needs a BIG pan though.

Easiest these days is to make vodka. Just under £400 for a T500 still and shop strength spirit will costs you less than £1.50 a litre including leccy.

The kits I recommended earlier need no added sugar, they use 100% malt extract. The lager kit tastes very much like Bangler that you get in the Indian.