This Chinese takeaway menu from the 1980s shows how much prices have risen

For decades, we Brits have enjoyed a takeaway at the weekend or to celebrate a special occasion.

But over the years the price of your sweet and sour chicken will have risen.

From old supermarket receipts to London Underground tickets, we’re looking back with nostalgia at the prices we paid decades ago as the cost of living crisis continues to take hold.

The same pressure forced Sun Rise, a Chinese takeaway in Kent, to close this week – but while clearing out the store they found one of their original menus from when the store first opened in July 1986.

The difference those 38 years have made to the store’s prices is enormous: a portion of cooked rice has risen from 90p to £3.50, and sweet and sour chicken from £1.95 to £7.

Special fried rice cost £1.55, chicken chow mein cost £1.15 and curry sauce was only 60 cents.

But a combination of rising energy bills and rising ingredient costs in recent years have forced the Sun Rise to close, as gas and electricity bills have risen by 30% and ingredients such as bags of potatoes have risen from £12 to £18.

Shun Man Lee, who took over the takeaway business in New Ash Green village from his parents, explains: “We have decided it is time to stop offering takeaway food. We’ve been here for a while, but it’s time to call it quits.

‘Since Covid, the prices of everything have gone up. We have increased our prices, but it is becoming increasingly burdensome for customers.

‘We tried to come up with solutions such as closing earlier, but we had to think about the long term.

‘It’s a family business, we’ve all worked here, but we have to think about the family and how we can move forward.

“This business was to support the family and the children, make sure they got a good education and had a roof over their heads.

“Like most immigrant families, we set up shop to sell the food we grew up with and ate.”

Sun Rise is so beloved in the village that regulars have been buying their favorite dishes in bulk to freeze, and asking for their curry sauce recipe so they can replicate it at home.

Mr Lee, who has worked in the store since he was 17, has decided to try a new role with less ‘stress and tension’ in the future.

He added: “We will miss everyone. It hasn’t been an easy decision.

‘Thank you to all our customers and their support, past and present. They are the whole reason it has thrived so well.

‘We did not expect this support from our announcement that we were closing, we were affected by it.

‘We hope to see people in the village and say hello. We will still be part of the community, just differently.”

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