How many hours do you need to work to afford a pint of beer?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/03/how-many-hours-do-you-need-to-work-to-afford-a-pint-of-beer/

I dropped into a pub in central London and ordered two pints of draught beer. Obviously the price of everything is nuts these days - and doubly so in London - so I only winced a little bit when the cost came to about twelve quid. Shocking, obviously. But as we supped on our pints and discussed the state of the world, I tried to remember how expensive it was to have a pint when I was a lad young man.

I seem to recall that our student pub charged about £2 per pint. And minimum wage around that time was £4 per hour. So a drink was 30 minutes' wages.

Today the minimum wage is about £12 and that pint cost me £6. So, again, about half an hour.

But the human memory is fickle! Let's get some actual historical data.

The UK's Office for National Statistics maintains a dataset of historic draught lager prices.

Well, my memory wasn't too hazy! About £2 when I was at uni. The national average price now is about a fiver - so the London premium wasn't too outrageous.

But how does that compare to wages? The history of the minimum wage is complicated - with several different bands being introduced. It ends up looking something like this:

So I grabbed the most recent data and plotted the ratio between the cost of draught lager and minimum wage:

Ah! It turns out that the cost of beer as a ratio to minimum wage is pretty consistent - somewhere between 27 to 40 minutes. Right now, draught lager is cheaper in terms of minimum wage than it has ever been!

Obviously, averages hide all sorts of sins. I'm sure your favourite brand of premium Bohemian pilsner has dramatically risen in price. And minimum wage doesn't necessarily mean disposable income. And you now have a student loan repayment rather than cash being dropped into your account. And the music they play in pubs is crap these days. And you back hurts ever since you tried to match your younger team members pint for pint and slipped in a puddle of your own sick.

Remember, nostalgia is actively dangerous to your mental health.

has anyone else noticed that food tasted better in the past? it was mushy and easy to eat. and the spoon would come at you like an airplane

— leon (@leyawn.bsky.social) 2025-12-05T21:38:21.731Z

#beer #statistics