It’s 2025, and that means if you were born in 1995 you’ll be – gasp! – celebrating your 30th birthday this year.
This might make you feel really really old, but it may also lead you to reflect on what a different place the world is now compared to how it was back then.
The past 30 years have seen our lives transformed by everything from social media to streaming platforms, but many of the other products and bills we bought and paid in the 90s are still very much present and correct.
The only difference being that the prices are quite different to how they were back then – as highlighted recently by the Instagram page My90sthings.
So just how much did it cost to purchase a house, pay your council tax and buy some of your favourite foods, drinks and treats back in 1995 compared to now?
Read on to take a step back thirty years, while staring dejectedly at the contents of your 2025 wallet…
1. A pint of milk
How much is a pint of milk? It might have been a popular celebrity interview question back in the 90s, but back then it wasn’t remotely expensive to snap up some milk for your cuppa.
In 1995 the average pint cost around 36p, meaning you could get two for a little over 70p. Enough to top up your hot drinks for days.
Now though? Well, a pint of semi-skimmed has more than doubled and will set you back around 85p in Sainsbury’s. If you go to Waitrose you’ll have even less change from that pound coin since it’ll cost you 95p.
2. A pint of beer
From a pint of milk, we move on to a pint of something stronger. Popping to the pub remains as popular an activity in the UK in 2025 as it was in 1995 but back then it would set you back a whole lot less.
The average price of a pint of beer 30 years ago was a mere £1.68. And today? Well according to the Office For National Statistics, as of November 2024, your average pint costs around £4.81.
This, of course, varies depending on where you are in the country. This Is Money reported last year that Gloucester is the cheapest place in the country to enjoy a pint, at a cost of around £3.61 – while in London your after-work tipple could cost you as much as £6.75.
3. A cinema ticket
Going to the movies was a pretty big deal in 1995 and with such films as Toy Story, Jumanji and Die Hard With A Vengeance hitting screens, it’s not hard to see why.
But how much would it have cost you to go and watch all those films at your local multiplex instead of waiting for them to be released on video?
Well, back in 1995 you could pay a mere £3.48 for the privilege of watching Buzz Lightyear lark around onscreen. These days? According to the UK Cinema Association, the average price of a cinema ticket in the UK is £7.92. Again it depends on where you are in the country, with some London cinemas – such as the one in Selfridges – costing as much as £20 a ticket.
4. A Mars bar
So you’ve bought your milk, you’ve had your pint, you’ve stopped by the local Odeon to catch a flick and now you pick up a Mars bar to munch on your way home. How much is it costing you? Well if you’d done this back in 1995 you could expect to part with just 25p for the privilege of chowing down on the chocolate favourite.
These days if you get it in Tesco you can expect to pay a whopping 85p for one single Mars bar, while it’s even more expensive in other places, such as Waitrose where the chocolate costs £1. That’s a whole lot of money for your Mars.
5. A dozen eggs
As the saying goes, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs – and if you pick up a dozen you’ll have one big omelette on your hands. But just how much would that jumbo breakfast have cost you a few decades ago?
You could buy a box of 12 for a paltry – or poultry – 63p. Nowadays? A pack of medium free-range eggs from Tesco will cost you £2.65, and if you want large eggs it’ll set you back an even pricier £3.15. So much for that cheap weekend brunch.
6. A litre of petrol
If you drive on a regular basis, chances are you’ll be complaining about petrol prices. Back in 1995, a litre of petrol came in at a lowly 53p.
Now, according to RAC Fuel Watch, the average price of a litre across the UK is around £1.36 for your unleaded, and £1.41 for diesel. Which, while cheaper than it was a couple of years ago, could still make topping up your car pretty darned pricey.
7. A Manchester United season ticket
Hands up everyone who’d love to go and watch every Manchester United home game of the season? Nobody? Well if you do want to do that the easiest way to is invest in a season ticket, of course.
If you were going to Old Trafford in 1995 and wanted to show your dedication to the title-winning Red Devils, how much would it have cost you? Well, you’d have been expected to part with £228 for the privilege. These days? Well, Ticket Compare recently reported that the cheapest Man United season ticket costs £579 – over twice what you would have paid thirty years ago to watch a team half as good. Although it’s still cheap compared to Arsenal, whose cheapest season ticket is a whopping £1,073.
8. A Pot Noodle
Who doesn’t love a Pot Noodle from time to time? In 1995 a Pot Noodle would set you back around 67p. In 2025 your standard chicken and mushroom noodles will cost around £1.10 in both Tesco and Asda.
However prices vary, and supermarkets do sometimes have special offers on them which can knock the price down to 1995 levels, allowing you to relive the glory days.
9. A loaf of bread
OK, so you don’t fancy a Pot Noodle – how about a sandwich, or a round of toast when you stumble in from that night out? Well back in 1995 that was competitively priced, with the average sandwich loaf costing you around 53p.
Astonishingly though this is one area where you could end up saving money compared to 1995, depending on which loaf you buy. Tesco’s cheapest loaf – HW Nevil’s white bread – currently costs 47p, while Sainsbury’s equivalent Stanford Street loaf is 50p.
Want anything fancier than a white sandwich loaf though? Then expect to pay more, with Tesco’s standard white bread costing 74p and a Warburton’s toastie loaf costing £1. And you might need a mortgage for sourdough.
10. Sony PlayStation
OK, so we get that the 90s may not have had all the trimmings when it came to the technology we rely on today (imagine, for example, living in a decade when mobile phones were used mainly for making phone calls). But one thing which did come along to distract us all that decade was the Sony PlayStation.
Originally hitting the market in Japan at the end of 1994 before arriving in Europe in September 1995, the first PlayStation would have set you back around £200. These days – and several generations of the console down the line – a brand new PS5 will cost you anything from £390 to just under £500 depending on which model you get and whether it comes with any games.
11. Fish and chips
Ah, fish and chips. Wherever you live in the country, you can’t avoid this oh-so-British of delicacies. My90sthings reckons your Friday night takeaway would have set you back a mere £1.68p in 1995. Fast forward thirty years and, according to the Office for National Statistics, the average price of your fish supper in 2024 was around £9.88.
In some places, it can even be much, much more. For example, chippie chain Poppies in London charges a massive £22.95 for an equally massive cod or haddock with chips. Since we can’t confirm the price at every chip-selling establishment in the country, all we can say is the cost varies depending where you’re buying them. Expect to pay a fair bit more than £1.68 though.
12. A house
With so many struggling to get on the property ladder these days, it’s fair to say that the price of owning a home has soared over the past few decades – but how much did it cost back in 1995? Well, you could nab the keys to your own place for an average price of £55,762, which sounds like a bargain but it’s also worth remembering the average wage was lower, so buying a property wasn’t an option for everyone even back then.
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Now? Zoopla reported in November that the average price of a house in the UK is £267,500 – and of course, it depends on what type of property you buy and where you live. Zoopla also revealed that the average property price in London is an eye-watering £537,500. Ouch.
How much was the average wage in 1995?
So, we’ve told you how much everything cost back in 1995 and you may well have stared at all the figures in despair, willing those Mars bar prices to drop. But looking back, just how much was the average wage in 1995?
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average full-time male worker aged 30-39 would have earned around £389.70 per week, compared to £306.50 for a full-time female worker of the same age.
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In 2024, the average annual weekly wage in the UK was £728. So while everything might have been cheaper, it’s worth remembering we all had a lot less money to buy it with.
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