Getting GBP in England

Lois, in March I brought £30 and only used £10 at a Laundromat. Most museum gift shops, restaurants, coffee shops, pubs... are only accepting cards now. I did a London Walks and some paid with cash, some with cards.

Think about where you will really use cash. £100 May be too much.

The best ATMs to use are the ones attached to banks, so if you get to 50s, just go inside and ask to break them. This happened to me somewhere (maybe Lucerne?) a few years ago.

You won't get a £50 from an ATM—it'll be a mixture of £10s and £20s.

I think you'll find that contactless credit cards are accepted just about anywhere.

In fact, I ran into my first restaurant that only took contactless credit cards...no pins, no signatures. Just tap and go.

In the past two years in the UK, I've only used cash for taxis in Scotland and to get a haircut.

When I have gotten money out of the ATM, it's always been 10's and 20's.

Most ATMs dispense £20 as the smallest withdrawal. Even if you withdraw a few hundred quid you won’t get anything larger than a 20 pound note.

You will struggle to get rid of cash - virtually every business, no matter how small, takes cards (or is card-only).

Exceptions include some black cabs: you might see a notice taped to the glass behind the driver’s head to the effect of “cards accepted - cash preferred “ or the like. You can always check with the driver before you get in.

Some vendors, like food trucks at street fairs and the like, will similarly let you know if they prefer cash. This is, again, rare.

I have a few pound coins in my bag for random tips and little things. I almost never spend them. :-)

You can get £10 from an ATM too. I last saw £5 withdrawals at an ATM in Liverpool Street Station a year or so ago.

I never take black cabs (I was so tired I almost took one from Kings Cross the other night tho) but I can't believe they are so brazen to put up notices like that. Shocking. I got moderated the last time I made a derogatory joke about London black cabs so I'll keep schtum :)

Just get the notes when you are here, but do not use a machine that charges you for this service and definitely not at the airport. ATMs at banks and small supermarkets like tesco express and sainsburys local should have these. Small corner shops may have a fee on top, but the machine has to inform you of this before proceeding.
Don't get £100, you will never spend it. £40 should be plenty.

You can be surprised and get a £50 note from an ATM in some of the richer parts of London, catering to specific requirements of the locals.

Lois, just an FYI, I was in London recently for 10 nights and never got any British money. I never needed it as I used my phone to pay for everything.

I've had four trips to London and Northern England in the last three years. I have not needed cash on any occasion.

I have to admit, the first time I decided to try cashless, I was a bit apprehensive and I wondered if I would be hunting down an ATM. That feeling went away as the days passed. Most recent trip last month, I didn't even think of my cash less state.

I was on a day tour bus trip out of Edinburgh last month. The driver/guide explained that Blair Castle prefers that the guide purchase entrance tickets for the group rather than all of us (10 or so) paying individually. Only the local Scots woman was carrying GBPs! I think the rest of us were all Americans. No problem - the guide had a credit card reader and his own account. We all got our tickets.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I think I will wait until I get to the UK to see if I need to get cash at all and if I do it will be for an “emergency 20.”

Lois, I concur with your emergency £20. I would add that you should consider breaking it into smaller notes and coins immediately.

The only place time we need cash is for tips. It’s awkward being surprised by the service you receive at a hotel and wanting to tip, but having to choose between giving £10 or nothing.. And that’s only because we stay places with doormen and bellhops that take care of our luggage. You can donate it to free admission museums, leave it for housekeeping staff, show some appreciation to buskers, etc if you like.

An “emergency 20” should be enough.

I needed cash today in London. I went to a coffee shop and their network was down! They had a sign on the door ”cash only” and people were coming in and being turned away because they didn’t have cash. While this is an anomaly, It was convenient to have cash on me so I could get my coffee fix. Of course, this was hardly an emergency as I could have walked one more block to get coffee at a different place.

Since the pandemic, the only other times I have needed cash in the UK were for a bottle of water at a kiosk and coin-operated machines at a laundromat.

Camborne2018: the driver is fiddling his taxes? ;-)

There is an excellent Vietnamese food stand at the Duke of York Square Saturday market - they make fabulous prawn rolls in fresh wrappers, with an amazing dipping sauce - and the proprietor is almost comically conspiratorial when he tells you they prefer cash before you place your order. :-)