Otley in West Yorkshire is not a place you would usually expect to find a bargain.

Its upmarket centre, where the ITV soap opera Emmerdale is filmed, is home to an array of independent bookstores, craft shops and expensive cafes. Yet hidden among them is “Britain’s cheapest shop”.

Run by father-son duo Steve and Stewart Nelson, The 20p Shop is reminiscent of a garage sale. And as the name suggests, everything – from chocolate bars and books to gold jewelery and bicycles – costs just 20p.

The store has been open for almost five years, but its popularity has exploded in recent months, attracting visitors from across the country.

As squeezing living costs put unprecedented pressure on household budgets, bargains are increasingly hard to come by.

Popular low-cost retailers such as B&M and Primark have warned of impending price hikes. And figures from the Office for National Statistics show that even the cheapest supermarket products have risen by 6-7% over the past year.

But could the High Street’s pessimism spark a resurgence in good sales of old-fashioned car boots and bric-a-brac stores like Otley’s?

It certainly seems so. The Charity Retail Association estimates that sales at its stores are up 10% from the same period last year, while the National Car Boot Sales organization says some of its locations are ‘breaking records’ for the number of visitors.

And as I walk into the cramped, dimly lit 20p store at 3 p.m. on a Thursday, it’s buzzing with customers.

Here, they sift through stacks of greeting cards, books, calendars and — a telltale sign of our times — bottles of hand sanitizer and neatly displayed face masks.

I even spot several CDs with the Daily Mail branding – probably giveaways from past issues.

Tons and tons of DVDs, LPs and CDs are there – I feel like I’ve stepped back in time, especially since everything has to be paid for in cash.

Although this has been made more difficult by bank and ATM closures which have left the city with only one branch in Halifax.

As I walk past the entrance, packs of expensive-looking headphones sit on top of each other, with the original price – £19.99.

Now I’m starting to get suspicious. How can the Nelsons – in the face of soaring inflation – afford to sell all this property for just 20p? Stewart, 28, insists it’s thanks to good haggling and bargain hunting.

The family has owned market stalls and regulars at garage sales for generations.

“When I was a kid, all my friends were playing football on a Friday night and I was helping my dad stack his van,” he says. “We spent the whole weekend at the garage selling parts. Now we get our stuff from a mix of places.

“Some of them are second-hand, some we buy in bulk and some are scraps from other stores. We struggle like every other small business, but we’re not here to make big profits. Here, all staff work on a voluntary basis.

Bric-a-brac: The 20p shop sells all sorts of merchandise, including birthday cards, books and even an old Daily Mail DVD

One volunteer, Sue Mckie, 53, says she was drawn to the sense of camaraderie at the store. With its garish, bright red sign, one might suspect The 20p Shop is unpopular among Otley locals – but Sue insists that’s not the case.

As she holds the cash register, I hear her say, “We received 10,000 cards last Friday. They are selling like hotcakes.

I ask Stewart how much it would cost and he says it can range from 19p per card – leaving them with nothing more than 1p profit per item – to £20 for a box of thousands. He also tells me that he receives generous donations.

A few weeks ago, someone gave the store two children’s bikes, both of which disappeared within an hour.

“It can get a little tense at times,” says Sue. “The other morning, we had two very competitive clients over who won a Simply Red LP.”

Indeed, there are some real bargains to be found in this Yorkshire treasure. Stewart says someone has already donated a gold ring to the store.

It was bought by a customer who took it to a nearby jeweler and discovered it was worth £120. She sold it immediately.

No Crock: Everything in the store is priced at 20p – meaning there’s always some real bargains to be had

Shop volunteers have spotted customers on their phones googling the value of books to see if they can be resold for a profit.

When I ask Stewart if he minds people taking advantage of his goodwill, he insists he doesn’t.

He says, “You could be a millionaire passing by here and it wouldn’t matter. The store is for everyone. We are not motivated by making a lot of money.

Staff say customers are a mix of those struggling to make ends meet and shoppers looking for the thrill of a bargain.

Retired couples, teenagers and young families with children walk through the door while I’m here – and no one leaves without buying something.

‘Is that just 20p?’ a woman asks enthusiastically. ‘Absolutely?’

Another male customer explains that he is visiting for the day from Nottingham. He can’t believe his luck.

Sue tells me they even had visitors from Abu Dhabi and Canada. Yet it seems amazing that a store like this could survive a two-year pandemic – during which it was forced to close for months at a time – let alone the cost of living crisis that followed.

But there’s an old-school survival spirit at the heart of The 20p Shop. And Stewart is a compelling salesperson. “We will never stop selling things for 20p,” he says. “It’s the whole ethos of the shop and we were built around a social purpose to make things affordable for the community.”

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