In the 60s a pound had 20 shillings and a shilling had 12d - pennies (not pence). I still have lots of them, and a ten shilling note somewhere, and use them sometimes in my teaching (I'm an English teacher).

I can remember that Bazooka Joe (bubble gum) were a happeny each, and individual large sized Wine Gums were 4 a penny. Old money went so far, even then. When it changed to metric many of those cheaper items doubled or quadrupled in price instantly. Bloody EU! Even as a kid I realised the power of economics. The new money itself looked soooo cheap - still does. And can you remember how big the pound notes used to be? They shrank in size to almost nothing before becomming a coin.

Still, 2p used to go a long way in the 70s.

I can remember buying 5 packets of crisps (2p each) for 10p in High Storrs School tuckshop at break time (1973). Mars Bars cost 2 and a 1/2p, I think. I ate such everyday, so did everyone else, and no one ever got fat (can't imagine what all these fatties are eating today).

It was also 2p on the bus to anywhere for years thoughout the 70s.

I don't live in Sheffield (or even the UK) now but something tells me it costs a bit more.

I suggest you talk to a maths teacher who could probably explain inflation to you. :D

I don't see how you can blame anyone else other than shopkeepers for the price rises following metrication especially as the EU didn't exist then.:loopy:

Incidentally, I assume, judging by your spelling and grammar, it's English Lit you teach not English Language.;)

Originally posted by max
Incidentally, I assume, judging by your spelling and grammar, it's English Lit you teach not English Language.;)

That's a bit harsh, isn't it? Poor old Rupert's only trying to start a thread reminiscing about his childhood and look what he gets for his trouble.

I can only see two obvious spelling mistakes in his post, plus a couple of dodgy commas. That's way better than average for this forum.

I thought we weren't bothered about grammar, punctuation etc, anyway? When I first joined I politely pointed out a rogue apostrophe in a thread heading and was almost tarred and feathered for it.

Guess a shouldn'ta said I wer un Ingurish teacher... and dontcha know, Internet English is more like the spoken style, although not. It is developing as an independent medium.

becomming - becoming
thoughout - throughout

I type too fast for my own good - but - wrist slapped ...

And, if my math teacher were smarter he would have studied economics ...

Originally posted by max
I suggest you talk to a maths teacher who could probably explain inflation to you. :D

I don't see how you can blame anyone else other than shopkeepers for the price rises following metrication especially as the EU didn't exist then.:loopy:

Incidentally, I assume, judging by your spelling and grammar, it's English Lit you teach not English Language.;)
and there was me thinking the forum was open to all:confused:

I too remember the 60s when Mars Bars were 4d, return train fare to school 6d. I used to walk the 3 miles home to save 3d so I could buy 3d worth of broken biscuits. I still have a Corgi Model T Ford from 1965 which cost 9/6d and a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost from 1966 which cost 15/-. (Unfortunately, I haven't kept the original pakaging as they would now be worth several hundred pounds.)

Doing my 11+ and my father giving me his RAF watch as a reward (It promptly stopped so he took it back).

Anyone remember TeleOptics? They cost about 19/11 and clipped on the front of the TV to give the impression of a larger screen. My father used to flog them out of the back of his car.

Lyons Maid ice cream machines outside of the Co-op where you could buy an ice cream for 3d.

And £5, an unheard of sum in those days, bought the family assisted passage to NZ.

Can anyone remember Spangles the sweets.

I remember buying the wafer bars and penny bubblies after being a primary school in the 70`s.

Originally posted by rosie
Can anyone remember Spangles the sweets.

I remember buying the wafer bars and penny bubblies after being a primary school in the 70`s.

YES !!!
They were YUMMY !!!

Originally posted by rosie
Can anyone remember Spangles the sweets.



If you sucked them for too long you could end up with a sharp shard of Spangle which could give a nasty cut. Best to chew before that happened.

I remember sweets coming of ration in in Feb 1953 and spending a shilling on Spangles i cannot remember how many packets i got.

Originally posted by rosie
Can anyone remember Spangles the sweets.

I remember buying the wafer bars and penny bubblies after being a primary school in the 70`s.

they brought spangles back out again a few years since, woolworths were selling them for about 40p, i bought some and they still cut your tonge after sucking them to long! don't know if they are still on the market now!

Originally posted by max
I don't see how you can blame anyone else other than shopkeepers for the price rises following metrication especially as the EU didn't exist then

Oooh, that's nasty. Firstly, how can you blame shopkeepers (or any retailer for that matter) for passing on the increase in costs? Inflation was rife in the 70's. Some may have taken advantage of decimalisation (not metrication) but the majority did not.

Secondly, the EU did exist then, it was called the EEC and has existed under various names from the late 50's. It's just that we did not join until Ted Heath took us in during the tory government of 1970-74 (Harold Wilson tried to get us in nearly ten years before). A decision that was ratified by a national referendum.

I think someone should consult a history teacher before hammering away at the keyboard!!

PS. I too remember spangles. So do my rotten teeth!

Originally posted by superCol
Oooh, that's nasty. Firstly, how can you blame shopkeepers (or any retailer for that matter) for passing on the increase in costs? Inflation was rife in the 70's. Some may have taken advantage of decimalisation (not metrication) but the majority did not.

Secondly, the EU did exist then, it was called the EEC and has existed under various names from the late 50's. It's just that we did not join until Ted Heath took us in during the tory government of 1970-74 (Harold Wilson tried to get us in nearly ten years before). A decision that was ratified by a national referendum.

I think someone should consult a history teacher before hammering away at the keyboard!!

PS. I too remember spangles. So do my rotten teeth!

I meant decimalisation, my fault. I know it was called the EEC I just couldn't understand why someone could blame the EU, or EEC, for shopkeepers' avarice. The original poster had blamed the EU for shops putting their prices up when we went decimal.:loopy: :loopy:

PS It's not history to me.:D

I remember Penny Arrow Bars & Black Jacks in the 60's. Black Jacks were four for a penny which meant that as there were no farthings, it meant you couldnt buy one on its own.

What about those Flying Saucer things, you used to put them on your tongue and wait until they dissolved, and those twig things that tasted like licorice, any one remember them?

And going to the offy with a load of pop bottles fro the money back and coming home with a pocketfull of "spice"

Apologies for any errors in grammar and spelling. Just in case MAX is around

Originally posted by Lostrider
Apologies for any errors in grammar and spelling. Just in case MAX is around

Why, are you an English teacher too?:D

I remember the videmat machines on buses whereby you chucked in a hand full of coins and the machine printed images of them onto the ticket.I used to throw in foreign coins and washers hoping the inspector did nt get on!!

I recently read somewhere that when decimalisation came in goods cost twice as much or more. I'll have to try and find it out again so I can quote word for word and give the source of info.

Originally posted by Ginger!!
I remember the videmat machines on buses whereby you chucked in a hand full of coins and the machine printed images of them onto the ticket.I used to throw in foreign coins and washers hoping the inspector did nt get on!!

Thanks for that memory jogger Ginger, I had forgotten all about that. Don't thin they were around for that long tho were they?

It's amazing how everything goes up in price over the years, I left school in 1958, my first wage as a shop assistant was £2 16 shillings, terrible ain't it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rosie
[B]Can anyone remember Spangles the sweets.

oooooohhh yes!!

But just what flavour were those weird dark blue/green ones?

no-ne ever ate them as they tasted bloody awfull!!!

yes just what are spangles by the way..

i hear my mum rave about them all time, i dont know if they was arround when i was younger im 29.. but she always says they was the best sweets... i know they not arround no more but are they sweets around that are like them..

and has for 2p yes i can rember you could go by bus on 2p.. and buy sweets and things. my kid thinks im mad when i tell her about the price i use to pay on a bus as a kid not 40p like today.

Originally posted by spinny
yes just what are spangles by the way..

Have a look here, near the bottom of the page...

http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/pop/sweets.htm

One or two other old favourites there, too

thanks for that link supercol

no i not seen them befor now i seen the picture of them,

but one i do rember is the space dust.. owch that stuf did hurt your mouth...

Originally posted by superCol
Have a look here, near the bottom of the page...

http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/pop/sweets.htm

One or two other old favourites there, too


Flying saucers! Can you still get those? and those white chocolate mice?

We used to get all these things on the "Penny Tray" in our corner shop (Mrs Buttery's on the corner of Dutton Road and Harewood Road).

in 1982 you could get a bus from the top of west street to high street and it only cost 3p :)

Originally posted by RoyalRegular
Flying saucers! Can you still get those? and those white chocolate mice?

We used to get all these things on the "Penny Tray" in our corner shop (Mrs Buttery's on the corner of Dutton Road and Harewood Road).


hi royalregular
yes the flying saucers are still arround in shops i seen them in bags in tescos and other supermarketts same as the white mice too.. but the mice are not same taste as i rember them.

Originally posted by spinny
hi royalregular
yes the flying saucers are still arround in shops i seen them in bags in tescos and other supermarketts same as the white mice too.. but the mice are not same taste as i rember them. it might be because the mice today eat a different cheese ,

What about "Chips" in the 50's you could buy chips at tuppence a bag ( sounds like a song from "My Fair Lady")..They were little half bag things that spilled out into the newspaper wrapping .. Nowadays you can only buy chips in the standard bag size...the other night i went to our local chippy and asked for a £1's worth of chips, and the assistant was "disconbooberated" she couldn't work that one out at all.

Remember going to town from firth park in 68-69 for tuppence.

Originally posted by rosie
Can anyone remember Spangles the sweets.

I remember that there was two different kinds of Spangles, Old English Spangles but i can't remember what the other ones were called. Does anyone remember Mint Cracknell? My sisters boyfriend at the time used to buy us kids these so we would leave them alone for a while.

remember penny arrow bars and in late 60s my favourite was clarnico iced toffees.
remember the beatles bubbly gums with free picture cards.
someone was selling one un opened on ebay a while ago must have gone mouldy by now lol.
I remember paying half a crown to get in the disco at wincobank youth club.

my first wage was only £5. 10. -early 70s .I had to trudge up and down one of those steep roads nr solly street with loads of packages
then come back and work on a machine then make everyones tea's then pack in the warehouse.
all in a morning.
it was a fancy goods place called ashburry's dont think its there now.

The 2p bus fares where still going into the early 80s.

I'm born and bred Rotherham but my Mum was born and raised in Sheffield. A lot of her side of the Family still live in Sheffield.

I can easily remember as a nipper (early 70s) and upto the early eigties we would catch the Maltby to Sheffield bus (287??) as it passed through Whiston. My fair would be 2p and my Mums was only 14p.

I would then get a choice, either another bus or walk and call into the sweet shop just off the roundabout at the end of the Parkway. Can remember it been old fashioned then, keep meaning to call in every time I'm close by but always forget.

If my Mum was feeling flush and gave me 20p (maybe even 30p) you could get enough to last until you got home.



There was another "trick" I used, as i keep getting reminded by my sister. I am the youngest of 6 kids, only one sister who's about 8 years older than me i was spoilt. I used to always make sure I met her off the bus on a friday (Payday), Say my Mum hadn't given me my pocket money so she would give me (and a mate, She wouldn't give one without the other) some money for sweets. then I'd leg it off to the shops whilst shouting that I had got my pocket money. She fell for this every week.

slimboyfat.
I was talking about 2 old pennies.
just before decimalisation.

Originally posted by tara
slimboyfat.
I was talking about 2 old pennies.
just before decimalisation.


Was born the same year it happened so (obviously :D ) don't remember it.

Originally posted by Ginger!!
I remember the videmat machines on buses whereby you chucked in a hand full of coins and the machine printed images of them onto the ticket.I used to throw in foreign coins and washers hoping the inspector did nt get on!!
yes! the good old videmat machines, i remember getting on the No 4 on cemetery rd at 8:05 to go to school, and we put in the old ring pulls as well, that was 1981-2ish.
the inspector always got on our bus tho!!
it was 2p to get to school. we bought polo's for 8p, whizzer and chips for 10p (the comic) or the dandy/beano for 6p!!
mini milks were 12p, and my nans favourite chewing gum was beech nut for 4p!!
we could get chips and scraps for 20p too!
Ahh, the good old days!!

What about choc sticks 3d and MC Gowans toffee 3d

i remember Beech Nut..i loved it..you can't get it now can you? Also i loved Bazooka bubbly with the cartoon inside.
My sister made me laugh the other day..remember the chocolate bar called old jamaica? she reminded me how i used to go into the shop and ask for an old jamaican!! i was only about 6 or 7 so couldn't understand why the assistant thought it was so funny.

chirpy chipmonk crisps 2p a bag, and a free sticker

tudor and castle crisps, nibbits.
xl .
Aztek's were my fav in 70s.
cocoa and sugar, fizz.
Brands chicken soup. sorry dont remember prices.

Tiffin bars were crunchy.

I am sure I remember only paying 2d for our bus fares to school in the sixties. And usually the bus was full and there would be lots of pushing and shoving and we often got away without paying the fare. More money for sweets and potato puffs.

enjoyed reading all about my past in these threads! what about mojos? sweet cigerettes and the icecream you used to get from the icecream man - were they called a screwball, they had a bubbly in the bottom and came in a plastic cone shape.

used to go to weston park with my mum on the bus from city road. it only cost 12p for both of us. bloody thatcher and her privatisation!!!!!!!!!

lol, even in the early to mid 80s, we used to catch the bus, 2p was the kids fare but living near woodhouse junction we'd catch the circular buses and hide on the top deck and go round and round for 2p :)

Talk about 2p going a long way in the 70's. When I was a nipper in the 50's I was lucky to see 2d ( that's old money) I remember once having a penny but it fell through a hole in my pocket and rolled down Champ's Hill, (Brunswick Rd if you are not familiar with Pitsmoor) that the farthest I could make a penny go. We were so poor we had to live in a shoebox with no lid on it. My Dad had to work 28 hours a day 8 day's a week for nothing and pay the gaffer 3d a week for the privledge.

hey pitsmoorboy lol, i used to live up pitsmoor before i moved up here :)

i lived on holtwood road (near abbeyfield park) in two different houses and on earldom drive

Can Anyone Remember Choc O Pops Ice Cream

I suggest you talk to a maths teacher who could probably explain inflation to you. :D

I don't see how you can blame anyone else other than shopkeepers for the price rises following metrication especially as the EU didn't exist then.:loopy:

Incidentally, I assume, judging by your spelling and grammar, it's English Lit you teach not English Language.;)

I seem to think the EU did exist — without us. I also think that far from blaming shop-keepers (you missed a hyphen in your spelling. Menswear okay, swimwear okay but shop-keeper has a hyphen) you should be blaming the government of that day. Shop-keepers didn’t force the metric system upon us, and didn’t create the inflation it caused. 100p to the £ caused that.

And by the way, please try to refrain from sarcastic remarks about spelling. I wouldn’t mind if you actually knew anything about it, but you obviously don’t.
If you’d had a bad day you shouldn’t have been taking it out on a forumer. You should have gone home and kicked the wife.

[QUOTE=max]I too remember the 60s when Mars Bars were 4d, return train fare to school 6d. I used to walk the 3 miles home to save 3d so I could buy 3d worth of broken biscuits. I still have a Corgi Model T Ford from 1965 which cost 9/6d and a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost from 1966 which cost 15/-. (Unfortunately, I haven't kept the original pakaging as they would now be worth several hundred pounds.)

Doing my 11+ and my father giving me his RAF watch as a reward (It promptly stopped so he took it back).

Anyone remember TeleOptics? They cost about 19/11 and clipped on the front of the TV to give the impression of a larger screen. My father used to flog them out of the back of his car.

Lyons Maid ice cream machines outside of the Co-op where you could buy an ice cream for 3d.

And £5, an unheard of sum in those days, bought the family assisted passage to NZ.[/QUOT E] dont fergit the c in packaging

hey pitsmoorboy lol, i used to live up pitsmoor before i moved up here :)

i lived on holtwood road (near abbeyfield park) in two different houses and on earldom drive Ilived on Earldom st during the war we kept pigs and next door had 12 cows

What about bags of ''mis-shapes ''. They were imperfect chocolates destined for Milk Tray etc. but because they were, well, mis-shapen they ended up in goldy coloured bags about the same size as a bag of sugar.

Both tasted the same in the gob though !

It's amazing how everything goes up in price over the years, I left school in 1958, my first wage as a shop assistant was £2 16 shillings, terrible ain't it.
found my contract for my first job in 1973. My yearly wage was the princely sum of £850.

darra, you must have been well paid. I started at Gleesons on Woodseats in 1973, all I got was £500 pa.

darra, you must have been well paid. I started at Gleesons on Woodseats in 1973, all I got was £500 pa.
I was mate worked out at around £16/week which was acouple of quid more than my mates.

yes! the good old videmat machines, i remember getting on the No 4 on cemetery rd at 8:05 to go to school, and we put in the old ring pulls as well, that was 1981-2ish.
the inspector always got on our bus tho!!
it was 2p to get to school. we bought polo's for 8p, whizzer and chips for 10p (the comic) or the dandy/beano for 6p!!
mini milks were 12p, and my nans favourite chewing gum was beech nut for 4p!!
we could get chips and scraps for 20p too!
Ahh, the good old days!!

When we were bored (quite often) we woould get on the No2 or 59 Circular bus and just go from one terminus to the other for 2p a go. My cousins who lived in lancashire couldn't believe it as they used to pay about 40p to go 2 stops! I also remember being able to buy chips and fish cake for 26p from Sulivans chippie (best chippie ever!).

Walkers Snaps, with a picture of a Dragon on! (Snap Dragon, geddit!) they were only 2p as Harry H Corbett used to point out on the Telly Ad!

b.t.w. Anj1364, love the avatar! sat and watched it for ages, very cute!

b.t.w. Anj1364, love the avatar! sat and watched it for ages, very cute!


Thanks ;) She is cute isn't she, and she looks even better dancing to music.:thumbsup:

In the 1930's you could get fish and chips for three hapence.I joined the Royal Navy in 1949, I was 161/2 my pay was 1/6 per day. You could get into Hillsborough or Bramhall for 1/6 in uniform, same as old age pensioners.

In the 1930's you could get fish and chips for three hapence.I joined the Royal Navy in 1949, I was 161/2 my pay was 1/6 per day. You could get into Hillsborough or Bramhall for 1/6 in uniform, same as old age pensioners.

Janner, you must be about 78 years old, is that about right,? that would make you one of the olderst forummers :thumbsup:

Wrong, Poppins, I'm a mere stripling of 74 !

I recently read somewhere that when decimalisation came in goods cost twice as much or more. I'll have to try and find it out again so I can quote word for word and give the source of info.

I was working in London during February '71, the month that everybody had been dreading because of the change to decimalisation.
The nation had been treated to nightly 5 minute-or-so TV broadcasts for months prior to the change, with lessons on how and why '6d' was going to be 2.5p, a quid was going to be 100p instead of 240d, and so on...
There were some great stories around too : shopkeepers who were going to refuse to accept the new currency was one story I recall, and there was also concern as to how folk were supposed to use the 'old' half-crown (2/6, or 12.5p to you!)
Bear in mind that all the old coins didn't just disappear overnight - you'd still have 'old shillings' and other silver coins mixed up with the new-fangled decimal jobs!
On the actual day of change (sorry!) I remember getting off the tube at Gloucester Road station, and struggling up to ground level, where there was a news kiosk....usually busy, but this evening there was a 10 yard queue!
When I finally made the front, I asked for my pack of 20 'No.6' cigs (which had previously cost 4/- [that's four shillings to those that don't know!), expecting to have to pay the equivalent, i.e. 20p...
Confusion reigned!
The seller insisted that it was 40p and not 20p, and hence a lengthy discussion started!
We'll never know how many 'fell for it' and paid double for everything they bought, or whether it was a genuine misunderstanding on behalf of the shopkeeper!

I only once was in possesion of a big white £5 note ( they ceased to be legal tender in 1957) people used to write their names and address on them. The reason for doing this, I think was because they were easily forged. The Germans forged large quantities of them to destabalise Britain's economy.

On the actual day of change (sorry!) I remember getting off the tube at Gloucester Road station, and struggling up to ground level, where there was a news kiosk....usually busy, but this evening there was a 10 yard queue!
When I finally made the front, I asked for my pack of 20 'No.6' cigs (which had previously cost 4/- [that's four shillings to those that don't know!), expecting to have to pay the equivalent, i.e. 20p...
Confusion reigned!
The seller insisted that it was 40p and not 20p, and hence a lengthy discussion started!
We'll never know how many 'fell for it' and paid double for everything they bought, or whether it was a genuine misunderstanding on behalf of the shopkeeper!

i was working in a post office when the decimal first came in and i was on the side that sold cigerettes sweets cards and some household things and toys.
the main cigerettes prices i remember were park drive plain 5 for 5 1/2p and tipped 5 for 5p sovereign were 10 for 9p and no 9s were 10 for 9 1/2p. i remember that a lot of chocolates went up in price especially if they were 3d which made them 1p in new money and they all seem to change prices.
i used to feel sorry for the pensioners mainly, many time they just used to hand you some money and say take it out of that love. i am sure some people probably took more as it was so easy to. i never did. i used to many time try to tell them what each coin was.

I can remember when bus fayres were 2p in the 70's.

I use to stop and buy 5 woodbines every day at a little hole in the wall on Commercial st, the matches were bigger than the cigs back then.

i was working in a post office when the decimal first came in and i was on the side that sold cigerettes sweets cards and some household things and toys.
the main cigerettes prices i remember were park drive plain 5 for 5 1/2p and tipped 5 for 5p sovereign were 10 for 9p and no 9s were 10 for 9 1/2p. i remember that a lot of chocolates went up in price especially if they were 3d which made them 1p in new money and they all seem to change prices.
i used to feel sorry for the pensioners mainly, many time they just used to hand you some money and say take it out of that love. i am sure some people probably took more as it was so easy to. i never did. i used to many time try to tell them what each coin was.

Just shows you!
At the time, my mum and dad used to smoke "posher" cigs than No.6 - (seem to recall even smaller ones available then as well - No.10's?) - which had been 4/10d for ages...
Can't remember whether it was due to a forthcoming budget or decimalisation, but I remember my old man saying that he was going to definitely stop smoking "if they ever reach 5 bob"!
He never did, of course....

It's amazing how everything goes up in price over the years, I left school in 1958, my first wage as a shop assistant was £2 16 shillings, terrible ain't it.

i left school in 1974 aged 16 and my first wage as an apprentice welder at william greens of ecclesfield was £14.94 pence.i used to give my mum £5 and the rest was all mine!! and it seemed like a fortune.

dont worry about it I started work for 12 bob a week ,gave mum 10, and I'm sure on this forum some remember working for a chicken two turnips & a bunch of carrots:hihi::hihi: