A time-traveller's guide to Christmas '75

Worried about what to get for Christmas? Wondering where the best bargains are to be had when buying the festive food and booze? Worry no more! Eugene Byrne has your complete guide to what to get where in Bristol. But only in December 1975, mind...

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O, let's say, hypothetically, that you and the family have decided that this year you'll go away for Christmas. Maybe for a change of scene, or perhaps in order to avoid having to invite the in-laws over.

Let's say, equally hypothetically, that the BT Time Travel agency can transport you and the family back to the Bristol of 50 years ago (and sort you a nice Airbnb), how would you go about sorting your festive celebration?

The most important bit. Get all the decimal coins you have from 1975 or before, and you'll find they go a lot further! So much the better if you happen to have any banknotes from the 1970s stashed away somewhere.

Your modern plastic notes will be no good, nor will the money apps on your phone, obviously. Probably best not to bother bringing that at all.

Your credit cards are no good either. In 1975 credit cards were only starting to catch on. The two main ones were Barclaycard and Access, while an American Express card meant you were very posh.

If you've got a cheque book, you might want to bring that, provided you can be sure you're using it in shops that don't require you to have a cheque guarantee card.

Fortunately, the BT Time Travel firm can provide you with 1975 currency at a very reasonable rate of exchange - give us £1,100 in 2025 money and we'll give you £100 in 1975 money. No, you're not being ripped off. In fact, we're being generous.

In 1975 men in full-time jobs were earning around £60 a week, while full-time women workers were on around £37. But these were averages; if you were a man in a manual job you were on £40-£50, while women manual workers were on around £20-£30 a week.