Craft beers and e-cigarettes added to 'nation's shopping basket'

  • Consumer
E-cigarettes and craft beer have been added to the basket of goods and services used to calculate UK inflation Credit: PA/Reuters

Hipster tastes have finally gone mainstream, official figures of Britain's spending patterns suggests.

Craft beers, e-cigarettes and music streaming services have been included in this year's 'basket of goods' for the first time, the Office for National Statistics has announced.

Vaping is increasingly popular among former smokers Credit: Reuters

The annual assessment of the country's spending patterns helps to provide an accurate picture of inflation and monitors changing shopping habits.

Vaping and micro-brewing, originally popular with so-called 'hipsters', are now a hit with the wider public.

Spotify, a music streaming service, also made its first appearance in this year's consumer prices index, which is based on the cost of more than 700 goods and services.

"With the decrease in the popularity of traditional media, music streaming services - such as Spotify - are being included for the first time, as are online console computer games subscriptions," the ONS said.

Craft beers produced in microbreweries have surged in popularity among the British public Credit: PA

Other new goods to make an appearance include melons, sweet potatoes and muscle-boosting powdered protein drinks, suggesting a consumer preoccupation with healthier lifestyles.

Items that have dropped in popularity this year include frozen pizzas, as fresh varieties replace them in shoppers' baskets, along with white emulsion paint, sat navs and foreign exchange commissions.

"Sat navs are out as more and more people either use their smartphone's navigation or they buy a car which has already got navigation built in," ITV News Economics Editor Richard Edgar explained.

"Foreign exchange commission is being removed from the list because we tend to use credit and debit cards instead of buying foreign notes before we leave the UK."

More: 'Basket of goods' reflects Britain's changing spending habits

The end of the Sat Nav? They're not as popular with the British public Credit: PA

Here's a selection of what's made its way in:

  • Craft beers

  • E-Cigarettes

  • Music streaming services

  • Protein powders

  • Melons

  • Sweet potatoes

  • Liver

  • Online console computer games subscriptions

  • Mobile phone chargers and covers

  • Headphones

And what's been pushed out:

  • Sat Navs

  • White emulsion paint

  • Cut flowers, lilies

  • Frozen pizzas

  • Braising steaks

  • Oven-ready joints

  • Foreign exchange commissions

  • Yoghurt drinks

Read: What was in and out of the shopping basket in 2014