Everyday prices from 1957

[classylady60]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can point me in the direction of a comprehensive list of everyday prices for the UK of (food, consumables, wages, house prices etc) for the year 1957. Have been searching on the internet and can only find for the USA. Thanks if you can help.

[bird_81]

It's realy hard to find anything on this subject, so you have probably seen these already.

You should be able to get a lot of information from this document.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/economic _trends/ET626_CPI.pdf
(Taken from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/glance/#economy)

House price graph
http://www.moneyforums.co.uk/post-3290.html

Table 2: Average UK house price 1936-2005 Decade Price (�)
1936-45 774
1946-55 1,957
1956-65 2,784
1966-75 6,757
1976-85 21,998
1986-95 55,721
1996-2005 111,061
(Taken from http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCent re/facts/UK/index43.aspx?ComponentId=12642&Sou rcePageId=18130)

Agricultural labourers wages
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~alan/family/N-M oney.html#1914

[rockingian]

my late father was a guard on the railway i was 10 years of age in 1957 he used to come home on a friday and give my mother his wage packet containg �9.17/6 to keep 7 of us .hope this helps.

[classylady60]

Thanks to you both for your help. I am gradually finding out things from the links et al and the wage record helps too. Can't believe how what seems a reasonable question (in the scheme of things on the the internet) is so difficult to find the complete answer to. Wish someone would compile these records, though perhaps they have somewhere and no one knows about it lol. Thank you again.

[reinganum]

This is what I have found from an August 1957 copy of Radio Times;

A 17-inch 'table model' TV (complete with 1950s spiky legs) would have cost 80 guineas � now that was approaching a month's wages for many people (probably more in some cases). Many people in those days rented sets - the rent being something between 10 shillings and a pound a week, depending on the size of the set.

A 2oz (50 gram) chocolate bar cost sixpence.
A manual egg-beater was �1.17.6 (but this was a top-quality make)

Wool (for knitting) was around 1/6 to 2 shillings an ounce.

National Insurance stamps were, for adult (>18) men:
7s5d paid by the employee, the employer paying 6s2d; for women and youths the rates were lower.
Self-employed paid 9s3d, non-employed paid 7s4d.
(These rates applied from 2/9/57).

Orange juice (not squash) at 3/9 a bottle (bottles those days contained around 750ml)

Fly spray, 5/6 for a small aerosol tin.
Shoe polish, 9d a tin
Disinfectant, 1 to 2 shillings per bottle (depending on size)
Ink, usually around 1s6d a bottle (100ml)

Sheds and greenhouses seemed to cost around �15 upwards, and a concrete garage would set you back �50.

Sorry the items are a somewhat strange collection, but that was just what was advertised that week. Try obtaining magazines (particularly women's magazines) for that period for a better feel for prices.