Victory for Sale: Spivs, Smugglers and Britain’s Post-War Black Market

The war was over, but Britain’s shortages were not.

After years of sacrifice, the British public expected victory to bring full shelves, better meals and the return of ordinary life. Instead, ration books remained in use, queues continued and some restrictions became harsher than they had been during the fighting.

Scarcity created opportunity.

Sharp-suited spivs offered cigarettes, stockings and whisky. Forgers produced valuable coupons, dockers and drivers diverted consignments, and organised gangs moved stolen meat, clothing, petrol and spirits through a network of pubs, warehouses, shops and private homes.

Yet Britain’s post-war black market did not consist solely of professional criminals. Respectable shopkeepers reserved goods beneath the counter. Farmers sold produce outside official channels. Ordinary householders exchanged coupons, accepted mysterious parcels and justified their purchases as small necessities rather than serious crimes.

Victory for Sale follows Britain’s underground economy from VE Day to the ending of food rationing in 1954. Blending social history, crime and dry British humour, Robin Wickens explores the people, goods and moral compromises hidden behind the official story of victory.

Discover how:

Rationing continued and sometimes expanded after the war
Stolen and diverted goods travelled from docks and depots to private customers
Forgers turned coupons and permits into paper fortunes
Pubs, workplaces and legitimate shops supported illicit distribution
Inspectors and police attempted to identify organised offenders
Ordinary people distinguished between greedy profiteering and a little extra for the family
Abundance, rather than punishment, finally broke the classic rationing-era black market

This book is the third volume in the Under the Counter series, following Under the Counter: Britain’s Black Market During the Second World War and Europe Under the Counter: Smugglers, Survivors and Shadow Economies in Occupied Europe.

Ideal for readers of British social history, post-war history, true crime, rationing history and unconventional accounts of everyday life.

The fighting had stopped. The ration books had not.