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What £1 Bought for Christmas in 1970s Britain 😲

Britain Retold

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Remember when a green pound note felt like a fortune? It sounds impossible now, but in 1970s Britain that single note could buy you amazing Christmas presents like original Star Wars figures, a fleet of Matchbox cars, or a stack of Airfix kits. I am looking back at 15 things you could get from Woolworths and corner shops for under a quid, back when pocket money really meant something. This is 15 Christmas Presents £1 Could Buy in 1970s Britain.

20 Comments

@jamesauld5145 9 months ago

70s kid here! Interesting but very misleading. If you got 10p a week pocket money, you bought literally nothing at all for 10 weeks if you wanted a Star Wars figure. You never walked out of Woolworths with a BAG of matchbox cars!
The fact you had no money as a kid meant Christmas and birthday were when you literally got everything you owned, maybe thats what made them so magical.

@markockwell 9 months ago

Bar Six - damn they were tasty, and don't forget Spangles = fruity heaven

@Ali-hb9bd 9 months ago

I loved getting a new colouring book and pencils. The year I got a Tiny Tears doll I screamed the house down with delight. A stocking with an orange, an apple & some sweets out of Woolies pick a mix. Those times were brilliant

@vicburns-j4s 9 months ago

Still get the Beano and Dandy every Christmas now and my youngest is twenty five

@probro9898 9 months ago

Beano Annual was sublimest Christmas joy.

@spongatejunction 9 months ago

Great memories

@teralmiles 9 months ago

Moral of the story. Kids today get too much.

@Bindersandcash19 9 months ago

So special not like the crap we are living threw now

@1mcshandy 9 months ago (edited)

My parents divorced in the 70s and we lived with mum. She gave us 20p every Saturday. Dad never paid anything for the cost of bringing us up. But one day he started giving us 1pound between 3 boys. 33p each. That took us up to 50p a week - we thought we were so lucky.

@lorrainemoore7807 9 months ago

I remember them clakkers they really hurt if they caught your knuckles

@johnnyboy-f6v 9 months ago

In Scotland we'd get The Beano annual but bigger than that was The Broons Annual one year and then The Oor Wullie Annual the next year. All published by DC Thomson in Dundee.

@David-b1r7f 9 months ago

Back then I'd be up early hours of the morning and eat the whole chocolate selection box. Enjoying opening the Christmas presents

@MJ.71 8 months ago

Thank you everyone for all your little stories, helps bring back so many good memories 🙏🏻

@thefurrybstrd1964 9 months ago

Christmas was more about family back then too.

@thefurrybstrd1964 9 months ago

Best Balsa Wood planes had a rubber band powered propellor. They were Effing Brilliant!

@Megab00b00 9 months ago

I remember the Beano annual well and also the Playland annual. These were certainty happier times.

@Domgo-d1w 1 month ago

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Star Wars figures in those cardboard backed packaging.

@geeAbee 9 months ago (edited)

I remember the smell of oranges on XMAS morning, cos we all got an orange in our stockings for some reason, and our main presents were under the tree My dad would be holding a bin bag for the wrapping paper, while my mam would dish out a present one by one. There were 6 children, so the pile of presents looked like a mountain when I was little.