You’d be the first to admit the Ten O’Clock Shop is the best in Bristol

Often nicknamed “the Harrods of Clifton”, the Ten O’Clock Shop might just have the most misleading name for a shop in the world: it never actually opens or closes at 10 o’clock.

But this place can fulfil every one of your needs from seven until 11 on weekdays and 7am-10.30pm on Sundays.

You can get anything you want here, from paint palettes to pickled onions. Should the need ever arise to create a stockpile for the zombie apocalypse, this will be your first port of call. From a look at the usual clientele, you might think such an event is actually imminent, with most of them hungover undergrads stumbling in for some much-needed sustenance.

One of Clifton’s hidden gems

Why are they hungover? Well, there’s every chance they’ve indulged in the Ten O’Clock’s fine selection of wines. If you didn’t know better you’d think you were looking at a Wills Hall wine cooler, only here you can get pissed a lot cheaper thanks to the beautiful deal of two bottles for £5.50.

They cater for all your apocalyptic needs

We taste tested, purely for investigative reasons, some of the shop’s finest rosé: “Right Night”. With its robust bouquet of morning-after regret-breath, and the delightful side-effect of getting you fucked enough to enjoy Bunker, it definitely lives up to its name.

You can really taste the barrel

To get an insight into everyone’s favourite shop, we sat down with owner Gary to ask him a few questions. He is a man of few words.

Why is it called the 10 O’Clock Shop?

He said: “Well we used to close at 10pm, then we extended it to 11pm. Changing the sign would have cost a fortune.”

And what’s his best seller?

“Alcohol. Funnily enough bought by students. The two for £5.50 deal.”

The way to a student’s heart

The most expensive thing in the shop is Remy Martin for £43.99. Rumour has it, they only crack that out for the hen dos piling into next-door nightclub Luna, every Saturday night.

Our suggestion of a 10 O’Clock Shop/Luna mash-up went down like a night in Lounge. Not very well.

What about the weirdest customer they’ve ever had?

“There’s a chap from upstairs comes down here for about six hours, says he’s disabled but he just stands there, says the most inane stuff.”

Clearly the excellent chat and ambience to die for mean people just don’t want to leave.

A no nonsense establishment

As for funny regulars, Gary says: “Well there’s Virginia, the bloke’s that not a bloke.”

This enigmatic character, who apparently stands at 6 ft, is one of many stars in the 10 O’Clock Shop show, which has developed a cult following among Bristol students.

The shop even offers its own high-powered graduate trainee scheme. A Bristol grad working front and centre on the till beamed as he said: “Look how far a Social Policy degree gets you.”

If you’re about to graduate, start weighing up your options as they’re accepting applications now.