This went some way to alleviate the feeling many people had, that shopkeepers might use the conversion from old money to new to increase prices!Ĭafe price list circa 1960 with prices in shillings and pence Currency converters were available for everyone, and prices in the shops were shown in both currencies. The banks were closed for four days before changeover to prepare. In 1969 a new 50p coin was introduced to replace the old 10 bob (shilling) note. Three years before changeover, new 5p and 10p coins were introduced these were the same size and worth the same amount as the one and two shilling coins. To prepare the nation for the changeover in currency systems, the Decimal Currency Board (DCB) was set up, running a public information campaign in the two years prior to the switchover on Monday 15 February 1971, also known as Decimal Day.

This old system of currency, known as pounds, shillings and pence or lsd, dated back to Roman times when a pound of silver was divided into 240 pence, or denarius, which is where the ‘d’ in ‘lsd’ comes from. There were guineas, half crowns, threepenny bits, sixpences and florins.

Prior to 1971, there were 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound.

British money translator