Keef first of all I am very delighted to hear that you do indeed have some friends !!lol
As I write I have a tin of 'Prime Corned Beef' in my refrigerator. If you keep it in the fridge it slices nicely when you open the thing. Always a finger cutting experience for me opening these kinds of tins but there we are. The horizontal ham ones are blue murder.
I have just looked this up in the interests of accuracy. My corned beef came from the illustrious aisles of Marks and Spencer and cost me £1.79. Tin size 340g. That's a fairly large tin and as M&S are not known as a cheap emporium I would have thought that the other supermarkets locally could beat that price.
So that shop that sold that to your friend was certainly overpricing it or looks to be. But...But..it would very much depend on the size of the tin. At a guess I would say that £1.29 looks to be the real price. People learn very quickly when they are being overcharged and as a result tend to go elsewhere from then on. Its not a good business plan to overcharge your customers. Not if you want to stay operational for the longterm.
Just come back to add this picture. This will titilate the tastebuds...lol!
Vic as you probably know it goes great with baked beans!