There had been a previous attempt to de-ration sweets in April 1949, but demand immediately outstripped supply and they were quickly put back on the ration. Some people even considered it ‘unpatriotic’ to eat sweets, calling production of such ‘luxury items’ a waste of scarce resources. While rationing was in force, people could only buy a maximum 3oz of sweets per week, but in reality other more essential food items usually took priority in the family budget. They weren’t alone either, as many adults craved a sweet treat after the austerity of the war years and beyond. The end of sweet rationing, on February 5th 1953, saw youngsters breaking open their piggy banks and heading for the sweet shop. Meat and a few remaining foodstuffs were the last off the ration in July 1954. When a new Conservative government came to power in late 1951 it pledged to speed up the process. Clothing came off the ration in 1949 and petrol in May the following year, but five years after the war’s end, people were increasingly impatient with the slow progress. The war effort exhausted Britain’s resources and its funds to import goods from elsewhere, so rationing went on long after hostilities ended, and in some cases became stricter than during the war years! The process of taking items ‘off the ration’ began in 1948, with bread the first item to be ‘de-rationed’. Sweets – seen as occasional treats – weren’t initially covered by rationing, but they were included from mid-1942 onwards.
Rationing came into force in January 1940, just a few months into the Second World War, and covered all sorts of food items, as well as petrol, clothing and furniture. Those who hadn’t yet started secondary school had never known a time when they (or their parents) could walk into the local sweet shop and buy whatever they liked, in whatever quantity they liked, without handing over the required coupons from the ration book. Today in history… hooray! Sweets come off the ration! 12:00am Admin - Acorn Stairlifts UK & LifestyleĬhildren all over Britain were celebrating on Thursday February 5th, 1953, for that was the day that sweets finally came off the ration!
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