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Ford orders six pints of beer (muscle relaxant) and pays with a five pound note. When he is told to keep the change, the barman is genuinely thankful for such a large tip.

How much did a pint of beer cost back then?

Adamant
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Dan Eckhart
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    I've always been bemused at how few people have noticed, or commented upon, the many protoThatcher ideas expressed in the original radio series - the Union of Seers & Thinkers, the nasty council employee who wiped a couple of Arthur's windows and charged a fiver, the way the foreman was able to order a bulldozer to run over a citizen. As with the price of beer, the same with the packets of peanuts. – LadySynthia May 23 '16 at 09:28
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    @ladysynthia - I wouldn't call those things "Pro-Thatcher". They're simply caricatures of Britain in the late 1970s – Valorum May 23 '16 at 15:36
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    VALORUM - That was PROTO thatcher, not PRO. Bear in mind that the radio series was written during the soi-disant Winter of Discontent (a creation of murdoch myrmidons & Saatchi & Saatchi)of the kate 70s when union bashing was all the rage. – LadySynthia May 24 '16 at 23:37

1 Answers1

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The joke was written in 1978 when the average cost of a pint of beer (according to the Office of National Statistics' Average Price Index) was around 40p. This means that Ford was tipping the barman approximately £2.60 or roughly 110% of the purchase price.

Despite a slight rise in the price of a pint by the time of the 1981 TV Series (something around 53p according to the Daily Telegraph and the ONS), this still represented a tip of £1.80 and would have been seen as very generous as a tip for a member of the serving staff.

As an aside, you'll note that for the 2005 film they dramatically upped the ante, presumably to stop rising prices from instantly making the film look outdated.

BARMAN: There you are, six pints.

Ford slaps down a £50 note. The barman's impressed.

FORD: Keep the change. You've got ten minutes to spend it.

Valorum
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    That doesn't seem an overly generous tip, though. Do the English not tip? – Dan Eckhart May 19 '16 at 16:05
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    The English do not, generally, tip at all, except in resturants and even then it's not guaranteed. To a barman in an English pub, they'd look at you funny...especially when HHGTTG was written. – Paulie_D May 19 '16 at 16:15
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    @DanEckhart I would say that in any part of the world a 67% tip is a pretty generous amount. – Mike.C.Ford May 19 '16 at 16:20
  • These comments have been straying a little off-topic, so I copied them to chat, where you can continue to discuss tipping customs for as long as you like. (With apologies to @Valorum :-) ) – Rand al'Thor May 19 '16 at 23:11
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    The tipping discussion might be better off at https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tipping btw - or simply read about at here – Zommuter May 20 '16 at 06:43
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    Just to add further context, £5 in 1978 would be worth around £30 today. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html – The Forest And The Trees May 20 '16 at 11:15
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    Meh, in some places you'd be lucky to get six pints for £50 lol – Lightness Races in Orbit May 20 '16 at 16:35
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    I am sooooo sorry for upvoting the answer, solely because now it has 43 upvotes instead of the appropriate 42. – BMWurm May 23 '16 at 09:51
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    @LightnessRacesinOrbit - Someone's been to London, I see :-) – Valorum May 25 '16 at 07:56
  • @Valorum: I try to stay away as much as possible, but I have friends who live there. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jun 03 '16 at 20:09
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit - I have long since learned that the secret to happy travels into the London area is packed lunches and a hip-flask. – Valorum Jun 03 '16 at 20:18
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    @Valorum: The secret to happy travels into the London area is "don't" ;) – Lightness Races in Orbit Jun 03 '16 at 20:23
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit even today in 2022, the average price of a pint in London is less than £6. Leaving £14 as a tip, around 40%. – Jontia Jan 20 '22 at 10:37
  • Traditionally bar staff in England were "tipped" but generally not like that. "Have one for yourself" or words to that effect would entitle them to a tip of the price of a pint or some similar sum which they would deduct. So the custom is not unknown. – Francis Davey Mar 28 '24 at 09:01