How much did things cost in 1987?

These are prices of some sample items in 1987.

How much were these prices for someone on an average income in 1987? To get a feel for this, I have adjusted them for the increase in incomes from 1987 to today. You can see these adjusted prices in the column 'Income adjusted'.

1987
price
Income
adjusted
Gallon of petrol£1.70£6.60
Bottle of whisky (Grant's) (Tesco)£7.29£28
Liebfraumilch (Tesco)£1.29£5
Martini Extra Dry Vermouth (Tesco)£2.29£8.80
John Smith's Bitter 4 cans (Tesco)£2.19£8.40
Pint of beer (bitter)86p£3.30
Pint of lager92p£3.50
20 cigarettes£1.43£5.50
22" Logik colour TV (Dixons)£229.99£890
Sanyo VHS recorder (Comet)£319.95£1,200
Sinclair Specturm 3 128K (Comet)£169.95£660
Lec fridge-freezer (Comet)£169.95£660
Morphy Richards microwave oven (Asda)£99.99£390
Hotpoint automatic washing machine (Rumbelows)£259.99£1,000
Hotpoint dishwasher (Rumbelows)£299.99£1,200
Mobile phone - Nokia Cityman 1320£1950£7,500
Daily Mirror newspaper18-20p69-77p
Average house price£54,000£210,000
Ford Sierra Sapphire 2.0i GLS£9,679£37,000
250g Dairy butter (spar)49p£1.90
100g Nescafé coffee (Asda)£1.45£5.60
Coca-Cola 1.5 litres (Spar)59p £2.30
Golden Wonder crisps and snacks 10 pack (Tesco)99p£3.80
Pack of 18 size 3 eggs (Tesco)£1.19£4.60
Mild Cheddar cheese (1lb) (Tesco)89p£3.40
Flora margarine 250g (Safeway)28p£1.10

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 1987 adjusted for inflation see Infation adjusted prices for 1987

By Steven Braggs, February 2021, updated May 2022

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