We haven't visited the UK in some time and still have currency from our years-ago travel. I see that the 10-pound and 5-pound notes have changed format. We understood that we could exchange these old notes for new ones at a bank when we get to London. But one site said that we need to be an account holder to do that. Is that right?
What's the advice for the best way to change our old notes for the new ones?
The Bank of England in Threadneedle Street will give you new notes.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes
It's worth visiting the free BoE museum as well.
You can try a high street bank but they may decline
I found a bunch of old notes last year and took them down to the Bank of England. It took no time at all.
I asked at a couple of banks near my hotel but they said no.
Good news. Interesting article. It's in an area we were planning to visit anyway. And we'll check out your recommendation as well. Thanks for all the useful information!
When I exchanged mine at the Bank of England, it took maybe 10 minutes. The free museum around the corner is nice for a short visit.
It's a great museum!
Another option is to donate old currency at free museums such as the British Library; they can certainly exchange the notes themselves. That's what we did on our latest trip when we weren't near the Bank of England and had seen the museum already.
We used some old notes to pay part of our bill at our B&B. The host was happy to take them. We had tried several banks in Edinburgh without success.
I saw a news story that the 20 pound note will be replaced next year. It will bear a picture of the artist Turner.
The year of replacement of the £50 note has not yet been announced, but I'd stab a guess at 2022. The person to be depicted is to be revealed soon, but will be someone who has contributed to UK science.
Thanks for the heads-up about the 20-pound notes. While our current stash of notes has only a handful of 10s and 5s, we have a LOT of 20s. We’ll be sure to use them up this trip.
This latest series of notes have seen the former ones withdrawn from circulation on a significantly shorter timescale than has been usual before. Often there is an 18-month crossover, but for example with the last £10 it was only 5.5 months. It may be because there is also a size change as well as paper to polymer.
My experience was the same as Kathleen’s...when I asked about exchanging the old notes, the bed and breakfast manager offered immediately to accept them in payment for our stay.
I exchanged mine at the Bank of England. Very quick and efficient. You just show the guard at the entrance your old notes and he sends you to the nearby teller.
As a side note, I found that riding the Waterloo and City Line to the Bank Station during morning rush hour was really an interesting experience (I am not being sarcastic). The lines stretched up from the platform up two staircases and down the hallway. Everyone stood neatly in lines, there was no pushing, shoving or jockeying for position. The lines moved in an orderly fashion, merged politely, and then the platform filled up in neat rows as well. There was pretty much complete silence. No talking at all. I was amazed to see hundreds of people operating in such an orderly and efficient manner. It was one of those "back door" experiences where one catches a glimpse of daily life off the tourist track.
What's the advice for the best way to change our old notes for the new
ones?
Walk into a bank when you arrive and exchange them. When I was in London in March, I had old £10 notes and swapped them for new ones at Barclays.
We're now in London and exchanged the 5 and 10 pound notes at the Bank of England (Threadneedle) without a hitch. There was no line -- no fuss, no muss. The lady said that while the 20 pound notes would be coming out there was no date set for the expiration of the ones currently in circulation.
However, we just found another wrinkle: the old pound coins are no longer valid (as of 2017). And the BoE only exchanges notes. (Plus this is a Bank Holiday weekend so there are closures at all Banks, etc., until we leave early Tuesday.)
Any ideas where to exchange (or spend) the pound coins?
Donate them at a museum is best solution or else a church. You can also donate them at the airport when they ask for change for whichever charity the airline supports.
And, yes, I know it goes against most advice on here, but this is why I don’t bring back a lot of foreign currency with me from trips. I always assume I will return, but I have no idea where life will lead me and what curveballs life might throw at me. Europe is becoming increasingly cashless.
They can still be deposited into bank accounts so befriend a local
Donate the old £1 coins at a museum, church, or charity. They are no longer legal currency and won’t be accepted in stores. Essentially, they are useless (unless you have an account to deposit them in to), so hopefully you don’t have too many of them. In December 2017, after the transition period had ended, I got lucky and the Cooperative bank a block or two away from the Bank of England exchanged the 6 I had.
You can't spend them anywhere.
If you can't deposit in a UK bank account (which I guess you don't have) then giving them away is your only option.
Pity I hadn't seen this earlier - we had lunch with a friend here and I would happily left the coins with him.
Another interesting finding in my search about the 1-pound coin: It sounds like the 20p coins have been discontinued (not in validity but in production by the Mint). What will folks do for the WC? 20p seems to be the coin of choice. (I stumbled onto the 1-pound coin news when I was trying to find out how to break a 1-pound coin into 20p coins, which I still haven't figured out.)
The Mint doesn't make coins in a specific denomination if there are enough in circulation or store to meet demand.
And now for the end of this story: We were able to spend all 4 1-pound coins in unexpected ways.
We needed to print our PESA bus tickets and a couple of RyanAir boarding passes, and do it on Bank Holiday Monday. With the helpful advice here in another thread we found an open Ryman’s. The printing came to 2-pounds 60 (so I got my 2 20p coins as well).
Then at Southend Airport there’s a 1-pound charge for a luggage cart. Since the carts also take a euro coin it was a good bet that they would still take ‘old’ coins. And they did.
I know, I know - how cheap can I get over 4 coins. It’s the challenge that counts.
As for needing those 20p coins at the WC, we found some that accept ApplePay (visualize that on your statement!) signaling that the world has truly gone cashless for this most essential need.
