Seattle's Best coffee held its price by reducing its offering from 12 ounces to 10.  Just to fix a sandwich lunch at home today costs as much as to eat a gourmet evening meal at Claridges in London in 1963.  

Today the nightly price of a room at Claridges is $2,258.  On November 19 the price drops to $1,874.  Today traditional afternoon tea at Claridges is priced from 95 British pounds ($128 dollars) and up per person.  In 1963 the price of a full course evening meal at Claridges for two couples (4 people), with chocolate mousse and vintage port totaled 20 British pounds which was $56.  So, in 1963 four persons could enjoy a full course meal at one of the finest restaurants in the world for half the price one person pays for an afternoon tea today.  

I can't imagine the price of the 1963 dinner meal for four that I participated in today.  Looking at the restaurants bar prices, one fluffy margarita royal cost 2 British pounds more than our gourmet dinner for four.

The cheapest dinner menu today for four is 360 British pounds.  Compared to the 20 pounds of my day, it is devoid of exotic offerings.  No chocolate mousse.  No vintage port. Today even Claridges offers a Signature Burger at 32 British pounds. A hamburger on Claridges's dinner menu was an impossibility in 1963-64.

 If you go to the a la cart menu, you can get a selection of oysters, tuna curdo, scallop ceviche, Cornish crab and a whole lobster for 185 British pounds, which is $250. If we add a starter of a half dozen raw oysters on the half shell at 32 British pounds and an iceberg lettuce and avocado salad at 22 pounds, and some miso glazed carrots at 8 pounds, we have a dinner for one priced at 247 British pounds or $336. For four people the bill today would be $1,344 compared to $56 in 1963, and the present day dinner doesn't reach the level on the one I had in 1963, which came to 5 British pounds per person.  There is no vintage port and no chocolate mousse.

I turned to Claridges' current wine menu. There is no vintage port on the menu.  There is no Veuve Clicquot champagne on the menu and no Dom Perignon. A bottle of Krug, Grande Cure is 450 pounds or $605.  Apparently, not even oil sheiks and narcotics barons can afford vintage port.