Step into Elliott's shop and it's as if the clock stopped 50 years ago when Frank Elliott shut the doors of his grocery for the last time.
Stubbornly refusing to embrace UK decimalisation, he chose to close the business in 1971 rather than give up on pounds, shillings and pence, let alone swap pounds and ounces for metric weights.
In this authentic time capsule on Lower Fore Street, Saltash, Cornwall, just a stone's throw from the busy Tamar Bridge, a packet of eight Lyons trifle sponges will forever cost one shilling and eleven-pence ha'penny, there's still threepence off a box of Pears transparent soap, Stork margarine is on special offer for 1/6d (15p) and Guinness will always be 'good for you'.
Frank Elliot closed his shop in Saltash, Cornwall in 1971 because he did not want to have to deal with the new decimal currency and instead lived out the rest of his life in the upstairs flat
Elliot, who was in his late 70s, did not want to change over to the new system, so decided to shut the store which had been opened by his father in 1902
Instead, Elliot began eating and drinking his way through all of the stock, before washing and returning the empty bottles and cans to the shelves
Among the items on offer when the store closed was Bronco Medicated toilet tissue - the world's first perforated roll
Partly as a loophole to escape paying the newly-introduced business rates, bachelor Frank - by then in his late 70s - decided that the family grocery business should become a museum. He imagined it as a place where future generations would learn what shopping used to look like before sell-by dates and ubiquitous plastic packaging and more mature folk could hark back to the glory days when customers didn't push trolleys around supermarkets and they paid with 'real money'.
After much wrangling with the authorities over his plans, Frank finally got his wish on his death in 1995 by leaving the building - the shop and two floors of accommodation above it - and its incredible jumble of a lifetime's hoarding to the Tamar Protection Society conservation charity.
The shop is now a major tourist destination and can also be used by schools seeking a place to teach pupils about social history. The Tamar Protection Society also welcome other organised groups to visit the time capsule shop.
Like a real life Cornwall version of Arkwright's store in TV's Open All Hours, shoppers could buy everything they could want or need on a daily basis at Elliott's, established in 1902 and left to Frank by his father 50 years later.
Despite being in Cornwall, with its fishing industry, tins of Princes' Pink Salmon must have been popular in Saltash
Also on offer were trifle sponges from Lyons Bakery, jelly, and a suspiciously metric-looking tin of biscuits
Harry Elliot, pictured outside the store he established in 1902, passed the shop to his son Frank who worked there until his retirement in 1971
Frank Elliot, pictured centre with his twin brother Harry, right and sister Laura Sophia, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. Both brothers survived the conflict because their eyesight was too poor to serve on the front line. Due to his poor eyesight, Frank was enlisted as a truck driver
The Tamar Protection Society are now responsible for the shop which is a fascinating museum providing a living social history of
Frank Elliot, pictured behind the counter of the store before it closed in 1971, wanted to turn it into a museum
The heavenly aroma of freshly ground coffee lured people in as they passed on their way to Saltash railway station or the ferry that carried pedestrians and vehicles across the river to St Budeaux and Plymouth. Frank was fussy about getting the right blend and even mixed his own loose teas.
Regular customers would sit on the chair beside the long polished wood counter, hand their list over to Frank and he'd weigh out their butter, cheese or flour on his classic Avery scales, or slice them a quarter of roast ham or boiled tongue and wrap it in greaseproof paper.
He'd pick the other items off the display shelves or dig them out from the store room at the back, tot up the prices by hand in his ledger with a pencil, and stash your cash in a spring-loaded wooden till. If you couldn't carry all your provisions home
