A new 50p has been released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the changeover Credit: Royal Mint Britain was in the midst of a seven-week postal strike, the average house cost £4,265, and a pint of best bitter would set you back less than 14p. The United Kingdom of February 1971 was a very different place to today. However, the nation’s currency was about to enter the modern age and faced its biggest-ever overhaul. The days of the shilling, half crown and threepenny bit were all numbered. They would be replaced by new money, perfectly divisible by 100, with the decimalisation of Britain’s currency on Feb 15 1971.