However, as a nation, Britain was becoming more prosperous. Enough so that the Conservative Government made their slogan for the General election in 1959 ‘You’ve never had it so good.’ So economically the country had suffered and improved and between the early 1950’s and 1960’s the number of homes with televisions increased from 11% to 85%, washing machines from 10% to 52%, refrigerators from 6% to 37% and vacuum cleaners from 40& to 80%. The number of private cars increased from 2.5 million to 7.5 million. So the, in general, the nation lived more comfortably.
Housing, however, was a issue that needed to be addressed during the 1950’s. In the early 50’s housing was a serious problem. The Conservative Government freed the building industry of restrictions the Labour government had imposed since the end of the war and builders were once again were able to do ‘private work’ instead of strictly working for Local Council. Under the new Government privately built houses, factories and offices were commissioned or built ‘on spec’ and sold. Land speculators and ‘developers’ saw an opportunity and made a fortune quickly. However, this was not good for many of the British public as building by local council was unable to meet the demand for rented accommodation and anyone who could not afford to by their own property had a time of hardship. In 1957 the government sponsored the Rent Act which decontrolled millions of properties and gave landlords permission to increase rent where no control had been maintained. Many people suffered from this measure. Despite this in the General Election in 1959, the Conservative party said it would continue with it’s housing policy and claimed it had been responsible for increasing the number of houses built annually from 200,000 to 400,000. It claimed 750,000 families had brought new home for themselves and Britain would become a property owning democracy under the Conservatives. They intended to rehouse at least another million people from the slums. The Conservative Party won and continued its housing scheme for another 5 years. Although they claimed to have helped lots of people some of their schemes made problems for the people living in Britain.
Hire Purchase schemes allowed people to enjoy luxuries they had never been able to have before. They obtained things by paying a small part of the cost and the rest would be paid in instalments (with interest) over several years. This improved the lives of many because this was they could afford a car or a television; however it was not good for some people as ti was an easy way to fall into debt as they couldn’t always pay instalments. The increase in hire purchase led to a boom in business and finance and changed the attitude towards hire purchase with had traditionally been frowned upon.
Dramatic changes occurred in the shops in the 1950’s as self-service stores appeared in Britain. These supermarkets made shopping a lot easier for people although it usually meant people spent more than intended.
Income increased and with it so did the disposable income (the amount left after all bills are paid). Young people began to have disposable income and sales of records, record players, radios, cosmetics and clothes boomed. Also people wanted nicer homes and carpet began to replace linoleum in many rooms. People began to holiday abroad (4 million people travelled abroad between 1952 and 1962.) Despite this it was still popular to holiday at seaside resorts in Britain. People started to live much more luxuriously. People went to evening education classes and in general the standard of living of most people improved greatly.
