I suspect the Pirelli tyres on offer are cheaper than usual because they've got an excess of stock, or it's possibly an older design of tyre they are trying to move on before the new version arrives. I managed that a few years back with some Continental tyres where they had a few sizes left of the older version which were about half the price of the current (new) design.

The other possibility is that they've tried to do a bit of Stella Artois marketing on the ditchfinder and hope people think it's better than it is it as it's reassuringly expensive.

Prices are still around £45-£50 for budgets £75-£90 for mid-range and 100+ for conti/Michelin etc in my size at the two excellent independent tyre places I use. Pretty much the same as last year. I think it says more about your choice of company you used as an example rather than prices being all over the place. Like anything these days, just shop around.

Certainly good advice here to shop around, I had a look at the other big garage chain around here (Protyre) and some similar examples showing up in my size. Something called Runway for £77.35/corner vs Good Year EfficientGrip 2 at £89/corner.

There are certainly many generics at the £60 bracket, but an extra £30/corner for something decent seems reasonable I suppose.