It is a product that you might have thought was long gone, that had its heyday when Elvis and The Beatles had theirs and is now consigned to history.

In these days of all-singing, all-dancing automatic machines, you might be forgiven for thinking the humble twin-tub was a museum piece.

Think again. A Shropshire couple are in the early stages of building what appears to be a business empire out of selling them.

Jeremy and Gemma Harris are importing the machines from China and selling them at a rate of knots. What’s more, the business they started off running from home in Wem has had to transfer to a unit at Wem Industrial Estate to keep up with growth.

Customers for the Harris Classic twin-tub are many and varied. For instance, York racecourse has just bought one because they’re convenient for washing jockeys’ silks.

The film industry likes them – the Harrises have sold a couple to two major British productions being filmed at Pinewood Studios – The Golden Compass starring Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman and Mamma Mia with Pierce Brosnan.

The holiday business appears to like them and they have sold the machines to caravan parks.

They also sell well to elderly customers and not just because they are a nostalgic throwback to the 1950s and 60s.

“The wash cycle is only 15 minutes, the spin cycle is just five minutes and there’s no plumbing in to worry about,” says Jeremy.

“You fill them from the tap with as much or as little water as you like, so if you are on your own with very little washing you can control how much water you use and keep your costs down.

“Also, they are top loaders so there is no bending down to get your washing in and out, which can be a big consideration if you are getting on.

And they sell at under £200 so they are good value.”

Jeremy clearly has the sales technique. A former farmer and driver, he and Gemma were determined to work for themselves. They started off selling small household electrical items.

“We bought up Kenwood stuff, toasters, irons, that sort of thing,” said Jeremy.

“We hit on the idea of the twin tub because there seemed to be only one other company selling this particular product and they seemed to be doing very well. We thought ‘we’ll have some of that’ and it’s just spiralled. It’s been phenomenal.

“China is a good place to do business with a very favourable exchange rate. After two false starts we found the right company and set about working out the deal, which took some time.”

The manufacturing company had never exported to the UK before, the Chinese testing system proved exhaustive and there were miles of red tape with the regulations dossier running to 300 pages. The 350 machines were at sea for 24 days.

“It was a long process but it has certainly proved worthwhile,” said Jeremy, who runs the business full-time while Gemma, with children aged 13, five and three to look after, is part-time.

Sales of the Harris Classic have been over the internet so far but a couple of shops in Wales are due to take stock soon, providing a High Street outlet.

Jeremy added: “A few people were sceptical when we set this business up but we seem to be having the last laugh.”