Paper Pound Sterling notes have all been recalled and will be worthless after next month. One of my daughters is in Northern Ireland on holiday now. I gave her 450 pounds to exchange for the new notes. She reports that banks there will not do the exchange.
Can anyone give me some ideas where she can exchange them? Is there some way a non-resident can do this? That is quite a bit of money to just loose.
Brings to mind when I was last in Belfast when there was a couple with about £200 of notes well out of date asking in a Danske Bank of they would exchange them and they were told they would have to go to the Bank of England.
However, as they are still in use the easiest thing to do is just spend them during the holiday.
Apart from spending them...
The Bank of England will exchange the notes - but you will need to send them - have a look here for details.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes
How about spending the leftovers on a refundable item, then returning it, say, the next day? Not great for store staff I agree, but in a pinch... it might work?
Or using Western Union? The fees are high, but it is better to lose 15% of the amount than the totality, I guess.
These are just ideas; I have no firsthand experience with any of this.
They can be exchanged at the Bank of England. There is no deadline. I am assuming that you kept that money for a future trip. You can still keep it and the next time you are in London exchange them.
They are NOT worthless. You just won’t be able to use them in stores, restaurants, etc. They retain their value and as already mentioned, can be exchanged for the new notes at the Bank of England.
I’d hate for people to throw them away thinking they were worthless. If you know anybody going to London maybe they would exchange them for you. Exchanging them is easy and quick.
I spent an old style £10 note last week in a supermarket, no questions asked. They are legal tender until the end of September.
Maybe the issue at the banks is that she isn’t an account holder and they had money laundering concerns?
She could try paying for accommodation or restaurant bills with the cash and pay you back in dollars.
I think I’ve definitely missed something. I haven’t been on the Forum for almost 6 months. I logged in today to browse any thoughts on Uk , Scotland etc. since
we have a trip there coming up in late September .
I don’t understand this thread about no longer using
Pound notes in UK.. we have leftover pound notes, 5
and 20pound in value . Also have a bunch of coins from UK. Are these being withdrawn and will no longer be spendable?
Am I understanding that paper pound notes won’t be
Usable anymore? We usually take about $1000 US dollars worth of pounds with us on a trip. So we shouldn’t do that and just use our credit cards now?
I apologize if this is a redundant question. I’ve not been living under a rock but I feel like I’ve missed something big!
Thanks in advance ..
Suzette,
The UK is retiring paper pound notes and replaced them with polymer ones. The old notes will be difficult for travelers to use in day to day type purchases. Old paper notes can be exchanged for the new polymer notes at the Bank of England.
More info can be found on the bank’s website.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes
London and perhaps much of the UK has gone cashless. Pay by contactless credit or debit card or by phone too. I’ve used Apple Pay extensively in London and Scotland. Very few places were an issue. Mostly parking lot ticket machines
Absolutely start getting rid of any paper notes now and definitely don’t hoard cash for the next trip. The good news is that you can always exchange at the Bank of England in London. The bad news is that you have to get there during business hours, potentially taking valuable trip time. There is an interesting small museum at the Bank if you have any interest in the history of money and banking.
The circular one pound coins are not exchangeable anywhere, you can leave them in donation boxes and the charity can deposit them into their U.K. bank account.
I’m not gonna fight the old warhorse of cash vs card again. But, I hope others who haven’t been to the U.K. post Covid understand how quickly the U.K. and especially London is moving towards cashless. You might get an independent place to budge on that policy, but a chain will most likely be cashless and no one on site with authority to even handle cash.
Paper Pound Sterling notes have all been recalled and will be worthless after next month.
I think the key is that they will never be worthless, but you may need to make a detour to the Bank of England to exchange them unless you have a UK bank account.
I came home with about 100 GBP (in 20 GBP notes) on my last trip in 2019. Never would I have imagined that a pandemic would prevent me from returning for more than three years. When I am on holiday in October, I will be heading to the bank.
We are leaving next month for a return trip to London for a few days then train to Edinburgh for the biggest part of our trip. From prior visits, we have about
200 pounds in paper and coins. So I should bring those but visit a Bank of England branch and exchange them for polymer?
Prior to an European trip, we exchange $ thru AAA to get pounds or Euros for the upcoming adventure.
What is the minImum or maximum you think we should obtain in the”new” money? If most places are becoming cashless, I’m sure we wouldn’t need as much as before. But there’s just something about going out with zero money in your pockets… strange feeling .🤷🏻♀️
Thanks for the advice..
Suzette, I think that you can exchange at the main Bank of England Branch in London. I did this once with 10 pound notes and it was actually an interesting (and quick) experience.
I would not bring more than 100 pounds cash. You are unlikely to need even that.
@suzettedalton3 - Carol is correct, exchange the old notes at the Bank of England (BofE). If going by the tube, get off at the Bank stop and the BofE is around the corner. It does NOT exchange coins. While there, visit the BofE museum that is beside it. It is free to enter. Other than the £1 coin, the coins haven’t changed. If you have any of the old £1 coins, they’re probably useless to you unless you have a High Street bank account. Donate any you have at museums, on the airplane, charity, etc. since you can’t use them in stores.
suzette you mentioned taking $1000 in cash when travelling, that is so unnecessary, unwise and dangerous. You do have credit cards yes? Use them everywhere for everything and pay them off when you get home.
You can pay them right there in Europe, even once a day if you want
.
I hope others who haven’t been to the U.K. post Covid understand how quickly the U.K. and especially London is moving towards cashless. You might get an independent place to budge on that policy, but a chain will most likely be cashless and no one on site with authority to even handle cash.
I disagree. It's the other way round. There are a few (very few) places that refuse to take cash and they are almost exclusively independent businesses. Chains will still take cash and I don't know of any that don't. I'll be interested to know what chains in the UK now refuse to accept cash.
I've been traveling in northern England for over 2 weeks now and have had zero issue using whichever form of payment I preferred at the time, whether that was tap card or cash. This includes lodgings (B&Bs and hotels), restaurants, and cafes and stores. Based on my experience I'd say don't stress the cash/card thing.
Chains in general have reverted back to accepting cash but some do have cashless branches. An example is Caffe Nero, mostly in small 'express' outlets where not having to handle cash simplifies things.
UK adopts polymer bank notes, stop using £20 & £50 paper bank notes after September 30, 2022 (same happened to £5 & £10 paper notes years ago); stores will not accept paper notes. You can exchange old paper bank notes to new polymer one in person at this location:
