If that reg is definitely right and not a personal plate you should have a pre-facelift.
The facelift only came out in very late 53 reg cars.
The thing that confused me was you have facelift lights, which has been done before but you don't see a lot. From my phone only the facelift lights stood out to me, and the custom lip skewed what I could see of your bumper, so that is why I said facelift.
Now I'm on my PC and you've put the other pictures up I can see, you definitely have a pre facelift grill and bumper. If he gives you hassle, direct him at me and I'll hold my hand up that I'm the muppet not you.
You can tell the difference on the grill from the meshing.
Pre-facelift like yours, main mesh and finer stuff behind, smaller Red H:
Facelift, just the main meshing, bigger Red H (if you look it's got a raised bit for the H and it reaches the top and bottom of the grill):