For decades, we Brits have gone out for takeaway or to celebrate a special occasion at the weekend.
But over the years, the price of your sweet and sour chicken will increase.
From old supermarket receipts to London Underground tickets, we look back with nostalgia at the prices we paid decades ago, as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.
Those same pressures forced Sun Rise, a Chinese takeaway in Kent, to close this week – but while clearing out the shop they found one of their original menus from when the shop opened in July 1986.
The difference those 38 years have made to shop prices is incredible – a portion of boiled rice has gone from 90p to £3.50 and sweet and sour chicken from £1.95 to £7.
The special fried rice was £1.55, the chicken mein was £1.15 and the curry sauce was just 60p.
List of things and their price in 1986
Special fried rice – £1.55
Sweet and sour chicken – £1.95
chicken meal mein-£1.15
Special fried rice – £1.55
Curry sauce – 60 p
Boiled rice – 90p
Roast pork in chili sauce – £1.20
Wan Ton Soup – 60 p
Chicken in curry – £1.25
King prawn omelette and chips – £2.60
Portion of chips – 50 p
Special set menu (for one person) 3.70 pounds
Royal Prawn Foo Yang – £2.40
Chicken foo yang – £1.50
Baked chicken with pineapple – £1.50
But a combination of rising utility bills and rising ingredient costs in recent years has forced Sun Rise to close, with its gas and electricity bills rising by 30% and ingredients such as sacks of potatoes rising from £12 to £18.
Shun Man Lee, who took over the takeaway from his parents in the village of New Ash Green, explained: ‘We decided it was time to stop doing the takeaway. We’ve been here a long time, but it’s time to call it quits.
‘Everything has become more expensive since Covid. We have raised prices, but it is becoming more and more taxing for customers.
‘We were trying to come up with solutions such as closing earlier, but we had to think about the long-term plan.
‘It’s a family business, we all worked here, but we have to think about the family and how to proceed.
‘This job was to support the family and the children, to get a good education and to have a roof over their heads.
‘Like most immigrant families, we opened a shop to sell the food we grew up with and would eat.’
Sun Rise is such a favorite in the village that regulars buy their favorite freezer meals in droves and ask for their curry sauce recipe to try and replicate at home.
Mr Lee, who has worked in the shop since he was 17, has decided to try a new role with less ‘stress and strain’ in the future.
He added: ‘We will miss them all. It was not an easy decision.
‘Thank you to all our customers and their support in the past and present. They are the whole reason he thrived.
«We did not expect so much support for our announcement that we are closing, we are touched by it.
‘We hope to see people around the village and greet them. We will still be in the community, just different.’
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