A word of warning about "old" pounds

Jill,

There was a post here on the Forum about a year ago regarding the "old" pounds, and as it turned out I also had some left over from a previous trip. I found the information online on the procedure to exchange them, and sent them to the Bank of England. I can't remember whether they sent replacement pounds or just a bank draft, but in any case they replaced them.

Guess I missed that one:). Such a different concept about money than in the US where money is legal tender even if it's 100 years old.

"Guess I missed that one:). Such a different concept about money than in the US where money is legal tender even if it's 100 years old."

Doesn't that make it too easy for forgers?

That is the rationale for retiring old notes - most exchange offices outside of the USA are very reluctant to take notes that predate the big portrait series.

All Bank of England notes in use prsently are from the same series, so this won't arise from current visits. The next note to be replaced is the £5 in 2016 (Elizabeth Fry out, Winston Churchill in), and it would be typically 3 years after that before the Fry notes would be withdrawn from circulation. The next is the £10 in 2017 (Charles Darwin out, Jane Austin in). This time around they are replaced in denomination order as the size is to shrink, as well as being polymer rather than paper.

Geez, does this mean the notes from my 2011 trip won't work if I return in 2016? This could upend my strategy of holding onto money till the next trip. :-)

The only note withdrawn that was in circulation in 2011 was the £50 note with Sir John Houblon on the back.

The full list of withdrawn banknotes is in this document, which includes denominations not issued since the 18th century:

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Documents/withdrawnrefguide.pdf

Thank you so much for the warning! I will now inform my husband that it is imperative we return more frequently to spend those pounds we saved for our next trip! :-)

Yikes! I'm glad I saw this post. We tend to keep a small stash of foreign currency to get us from the airport to the center of wherever it is we're staying. I have some 5 and 10 pund notes we've been holding on to since 2005, and we're going to London in 2015. I checked the link in Marco's post, and I think we're okay. Does that get updated regularly?

Thanks for the heads-up, Jill.

If you don't see a picture of it in that document it is still current. No additional notes to be withdrawn until 2017 at the earliest.

Fives and tens that were circulating in 2005 are still current, although the 20s of that era were withdrawn in 2010.

A reminder that every note issued by the Bank of England right back to 1694 can still be exchanged for its face value although of course many are worth more in collector value.

Thanks for posting the link, Marco. I'm planning to be in Wales and London for several days next fall and have some pounds left from my trip in 2012. I'll take a look at the link when I have the notes in front of me.