How Much Does Bread Cost in the UK?
Short answer: on October 19, 2026, an 800g white sliced loaf cost £0.55 at Aldi (Village Bakery), £0.75 at Tesco (White Toastie own-label), and £1.25 for the branded Hovis Soft White loaf at both Tesco and Sainsbury's.
Bread has one of the widest tier gaps in the basket: the branded loaf costs more than double the cheapest own-label loaf for the same 800g. Whether that gap is worth paying is a taste question, but it should be a conscious one.
The prices we verified
Aldi Village Bakery Medium Sliced White Bread 800g: £0.55 (£0.69/kg), the cheapest verified 800g loaf in the UK this week. Tesco White Toastie Bread Thick Sliced 800g: £0.75 (£0.94/kg).
Hovis Soft White Medium Sliced Bread 800g: £1.25 (£1.56/kg) at both Tesco and Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's and Asda own-label 800g sliced loaves could not be verified this week, so we publish no price for them rather than guessing.
What is a good deal on bread?
Our guidance: own-label 800g loaves at 75p or less are the going rate, and Aldi's 55p sets the floor. Branded loaves go on offer regularly, and at around £1.00 the Hovis gap narrows to 25p over Tesco's own label, which is the point where brand preference becomes cheap.
Per-loaf loyalty offers on bread are rare because the price is already low. The savings here are structural: which tier you default to, every week.
Why bread prices move
Bread sits in the ONS bread and cereals class, up 1.3% in the year to August 2026, exactly in line with overall food inflation. Wheat and energy costs drive it, and both have calmed since the 2022 to 2023 spike.
The tier gap is not about ingredient costs. It is branding and shelf positioning, which is why it survives every market move intact.
How to pay less for bread
If your household eats the loaf without comparing, switch the default to own-label for a month and see if anyone notices. On a loaf a week, the Hovis-to-Tesco switch saves £26 a year; Hovis to Aldi saves £36.40.
Freeze half the loaf on day one if you waste the tail of it. A wasted third of a loaf raises your real price per slice by half.
Check bread against our weekly tracker before you shop. We reprice the 800g loaf every week.
Bread is a small line that repeats 52 times a year. Track what you actually pay per item with free receipt scans (5 a month, no credit card), and the repeats become visible.