With its traditional local pub, quaint cafe and greengrocers, Oxo adverts on the walls and ration books on the tables, a stroll along this street is like stepping back to the 1950s.

But this is a road that is special not merely for its nostalgia.

For Memory Lane has been carefully constructed by a care home to help its residents who suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s to feel more comfortable. It is even hoped it could improve their ability to recall their own pasts.

Architects studied photographs of 1950s streets to properly capture the era in the design of the shops and pub.

Then staff combed through scrap yards, charity shops and auction websites to unearth the perfect objects to fill the buildings. They found original adverts for Oxo, Bisto and Wall’s, as well as an authentic phone box and post box.

Residents can read newspapers and magazines from the period, detailing the Queen’s Coronation, or choose (freshly made) cakes from the greengrocers, which has weighing scales inside and an old delivery bike propped up nearby.

In the White Hart pub, they will find tobacco tins, vintage beer mats and beer stools, where they can sit and sup a cold beer or tea and coffee.

Manager Christopher Taylor, 38, of Grove Care, said the company decided to build the street on land between two homes it runs, Blossom Fields and The Grove, caring for 80 residents in Winterbourne, Bristol.

He said: ‘It is really important for those with dementia who are mobile to have a destination. They can visit the pub or the post office – this makes it a walk with a purpose, which is so important.

'When they are there they can look at the memorabilia. Our staff can then start a conversation about it with them.’

Studies have shown that talking about the past benefits the memory. Research in 2009 by Exeter University found that chatting with peers about the war years caused those with dementia to experience an average of 12 per cent boost in their ability to remember.

Professor of social psychology Alex Haslam said: ‘If you had a drug that could do that, you could make a lot of money. The point is that the drug is the group.

‘I think our sense of worth comes from the approbation of our peers – the group gives us a reason to live and a reason to engage.’

The project shares similarities with BBC show The Young Ones, in which six celebrities in their seventies and eighties were taken to a house decked out in 1970s decor.

Liz Smith, Lionel Blair, Dickie Bird, Kenneth Kendall, Sylvia Syms and the late Derek Jameson took part in the show, which explored whether reliving their heyday could allow them to feel younger.

Read more and see the photos: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204243/Alzheimers-patients-trip-memory-lane-Care-home-recreates-1950s-street--including-pub.html