Uk 50 Years Of Decimal Currency

[FairTmiddlin]

Just realised it was 50 years ago on the 15th February 1971, that we started to lose shillings and pence.

Wonder does anyone still convert to "Old Money".

[CambridgeCabby]

Still class 50p as ten Bob 

[NorfolkNog]

Could do with pre decimal beer prices!   

[BroadAmbition]

I was ten at the time and can remember my pocket money changing over

Griff

[ranworthbreeze]

I still work out measurements to the nearest on the tape be it in inches or millimetres after a few years in engineering with thousands of a inch the new metric was a step backwards. The money was just a way to devalue the pound at the time.

 

[Mouldy]

7 hours ago, FairTmiddlin said:

 . . . . . . . . . . Wonder does anyone still convert to "Old Money".

We used to take my mum shopping every Saturday until she became too disabled to go and she frequently used to look at something on the supermarket shelves and comment about how much they used to cost pre decimal.  She didn’t seem to understand that folk used to earn much less back then, too.

Now for a really controversial comment.  I think it’s a great shame that we haven’t totally adopted the metric system for weights and measures, too.  I cannot comprehend how we drive in miles, but buy timber in metres, buy litres of petrol, yet try to work out miles per gallon.  Maybe, following Brexit, the old guard will start to campaign to return to avoirdupois for weights, feet and inches for measurements and pound, shillings and pennies for buying and selling!!

[ranworthbreeze]

As far as I am aware hardwood prices are still sold in square inches.

[Mouldy]

14 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

 . .. . . . .The money was just a way to devalue the pound at the time. . . .

Not sure about that.  Surely it’s far easier to work in a decimal system than the old one where 240 pennies made a pound and were subdivided into shillings and pennies?

[Mouldy]

1 minute ago, ranworthbreeze said:

As far as I am aware hardwood prices are still sold in square inches.

Doesn’t that prove the stupidity of the system?  I built a deck at the back of the house a couple of years ago and all of the timber was sold by the metre. How are children to be taught at school?  Most won’t know how many yards make a mile or feet make a yard for that matter.  Ridiculous that we’re trying to cling to something for the sake of it.

[MauriceMynah]

I think it does no harm to "make the sums harder" Makes for smarter people. I useually disagree with "dumbing down" things.

Temperature is the odd one for me. in the winter I think the weather in degrees C, yet in summer a nice day is in the 70sF

[SteveP]

All the breweries used the change as an excuse to bump beer prices up, I promised to give it up if Boddingtons went to 50p a pint. I have to send Mrs P to the bar now so I don't know how much it costs.

[ranworthbreeze]

In 1981 when decimal came in a pint of stones in our local was about 9 new pence (one shilling and eight pence) petrol was 29 pence a gallon, a portion of chips 3 pence, a fish cake 3 pence and a fish at 8 pence.

[Mouldy]

28 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

In 1981 when decimal came in a pint of stones in our local was about 9 new pence (one shilling and eight pence) petrol was 29 pence a gallon, a portion of chips 3 pence, a fish cake 3 pence and a fish at 8 pence.

And how much were your wages??

37 minutes ago, SteveP said:

All the breweries used the change as an excuse to bump beer prices up . . . . . . . . . .

Probably, the single event that caused prices to rise was when the halfpenny was taken out of circulation.  Nothing actually came down, every was rounded up.

[CambridgeCabby]

I can never understand why it is  that a lot of people will state during the winter it is zero or -1 etc yet in the summer they’ll say it’s a scorcher today high 70’s without realising they are using two different scales

[floydraser]

It's all quite simple really.

 

[RumPunch]

Being in my mid 50's, I'm messed up with the metric system. As me how far to Norwich you'll get it in miles, or a rough measurement will be in feet and inches. As soon as I start any engineering task I'll immediately mentally switch to mm though....

Still remember toddling off to the sweet shop, on my own ( only just 5 when we went decimal ) with my three penny bit pocket money.

[stumpy]

1 hour ago, SteveP said:

All the breweries used the change as an excuse to bump beer prices up, I promised to give it up if Boddingtons went to 50p a pint. I have to send Mrs P to the bar now so I don't know how much it costs.

I (almost) gave up smoking when 20 No.6 went up from 3/9 to 20p.!

[Vaughan]

23 minutes ago, stumpy said:

I (almost) gave up smoking when 20 No.6 went up from 3/9 to 20p.!

Prices were always rounded up - never down!

[MauriceMynah]

2 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

I can never understand why it is  that a lot of people will state during the winter it is zero or -1 etc yet in the summer they’ll say it’s a scorcher today high 70’s without realising they are using two different scales

I fully realize that I do it, but warm temps mean little to me in C, equally, cold in F is a bit of a mystery.

I buy 12mm sheets  of ply that are 8 x 4 and have no idea how many kilometres my car does to the litre. I also know it is unwise to drive after 6 pints or more. (that was a joke in case someone takes it seriously).

 

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

Prices were always rounded up - never down!

Many businesses used our going decimal to make a few extra bob, as indeed they did when we joined the common market. I have no doubt they will again as we leave the EU.

[ExSurveyor]

3 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

As far as I am aware hardwood prices are still sold in square inches.

3 metres of 4 x 2

[grendel]

2 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Probably, the single event that caused prices to rise was when the halfpenny was taken out of circulation.  Nothing actually came down, every was rounded up.

no, it was when 1/2d chews suddenly cost 1/2p, I was scandalised as a 11 year old to find such a price hike, suddenly a 6d of 1/2d chews (12) was 1/2p each or 5 for your 6d, thats one of my overriding memories of decimalisation,the price of sweets doubling.

[MauriceMynah]

I remember an old boy in this area who went to a wood yard (this would be back in the eighties) and asked for "500 feet of two by one".

The spotty youth behind the counter replied that they sold wood by the metre,m to which the old boy said,

"Well I buy it by the foot."

The customer is always right!!! 

[PaulN]

My late farther worked for Pirelli for much of his life until he reired, but I never understood why his industry went half metric and has never changed. If you buy a set of 185 x 16 tyres. That's 185mm tread width to fit a 16 inch wheel ??? 

[Mouldy]

14 minutes ago, grendel said:

no, it was when 1/2d chews suddenly cost 1/2p, I was scandalised as a 11 year old to find such a price hike, suddenly a 6d of 1/2d chews (12) was 1/2p each or 5 for your 6d, thats one of my overriding memories of decimalisation,the price of sweets doubling.

The old halfpenny ceased to be legal tender in 1969, so probably phased out to prepare us for decimalisation in 1971.

[Mouldy]

1 minute ago, PaulN said:

My late farther worked for Pirelli for much of his life until he reired, but I never understood why his industry went half metric and has never changed. If you buy a set of 185 x 16 tyres. That's 185mm tread width to fit a 16 inch wheel ??? 

Precisely.  Total c*ck up.  We buy fuel in litres, divide it to make gallons, then work out fuel consumption in miles per gallon.  What a ridiculous system.  We need to sort it out one way or another.  I’m approaching 65 years of age, so kind of familiar with imperial and metric measurements, but trying to maintain both just strikes me as farcical.