Utility Furniture

From 1942 onwards, utility furniture could be bought by newly weds, people who had been bombed out and certain others, and a docket like that above was required.

The allowance was 60 units for a couple, and 10 for each child.
A wardrobe was 12 units, a metal bedstead, 5 units, a kitchen table, 6 units, a dining chair, 1 unit and an armchair, 6 units.

A sideboard like the one below would have cost about £10.7s.0d, and although it was very basic it was solidly made to government specifications. It would probably be about 6 of the furniture units and the dining chair would have been 1 unit and cost about £1.9s.0d. Everything had the CC41 mark etched on it. This furniture is now sought after by collectors.

When WW2 started there were not many folk who owned their own house.
A three bedroom semi-detached house would cost approximately £300-£ 500 to buy. The later houses built from 1935 onwards had bathrooms built in.
This was very different to the poorer areas of the cities where toilets and wash houses were shared.
As the war progressed the class distinction began to diminish. It was due to the fact that everyone was now in the same situation. Many who owned a house lost their home the same as anyone else during the bombing and the atmosphere was that everyone helped each other no matter what status in life they held.
If only everyone thought that way today.