The Queen's 90th birthday: Price of a pint has soared 15,000% during monarch's life

Inflation: A pint of beer would have cost 2p in 1926
Shutterstock

The price of a pint of beer has soared more than 15,000 per cent during the nine decades of The Queen’s life, according to new analysis.

Toasting the arrival of the newborn Princess Elizabeth in a pub would have cost 2p in 1926.

But a drinker wanting to celebrate her 90th birthday with a pint this weekend would have to fork out an average of £2.97 across the country - and a lot more in London.

The price of a birthday breakfast has also seen a massive rise during her 90 years with the cost of a dozen eggs rising from 1p to £2.25 - or 15,725 per cent - and a loaf of sliced white bread up from 2p to £1.02.

Baking a Victoria sponge for a street party would now cost £2.57 compared with just 11p in 1926.

Overall, an average inflation rate of 4.6 per cent over the course of the monarch’s long life would have robbed £1 owned at the time of her birth of 98 per cent of its value, according to calculations from Lloyds Bank Private Banking.

To match the purchasing power of a single pound in 1926, a shopper would have to spend £55.70 today.

Despite the huge increase in prices over the 90 years, the pace of inflation has fluctuated wildly.

In the first decade of The Queen’s life prices actually fell 14 per cent as the world economy was sent crashing during the Great Depression.

Shortages during war-time rationing fuelled inflation with prices rising 69 per cent during the 10 years to 1946.

But inflation really took off during the Seventies when the cost of living went up at an average rate of 10 per cent a year. In the past decade prices have been much more subdued with prices up only 2.8 per cent annually on average.

Sarah Deaves, director at Lloyds Bank Private Banking, said: “The value of money has fallen substantially since the birth of Queen Elizabeth in 1926 as retail prices and the cost of many everyday items has soared. Such has been the rise in inflation that £1.80 in 1926 would have provided the same spending power as £100 today.

“It is interesting that despite the ups and downs in the stock market, the FTSE All Share Index has outpaced cash over this period. For many people, where appropriate, investing some of their money in the market and getting a wider exposure to the UK economy can help grow the value of their money ahead of inflation.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT