Been a lot of advertising of this recently as apparently there are £17.6 billion worth of paper £20 and £50 notes still floating about somewhere. This is over a fifth of notes in circulation by value.
Both of these will become unuseable from 30 September 2022 with only the current polymer series being accepted in commerce.
As always the old notes will remain exchangeable.
Thanks good to know.
Used my last four paper £20 earlier this month so I didn’t have to go exchange them on a later trip.
Thank you! I just pulled my stash out for use this summer and will double check them.
Just in case, there is no reason to feel badly if you can't use your notes by the end of Sept. You can still go into the Bank of England and exchange. I ended up doing this with my 10 pound notes. It was quick, easy, and actually a bit interesting. Their office is just inside the lobby. You tell the security individual at the door what you want to do and in less than 5 minutes you are done.
We still have at least a few 20 pound notes floating around from our last trip in 2018 haha! Good to know that we'll still be able to swap them out on our next trip to England.
Oh, wow! Good to know. We still have some of those pounds and will be using them in Scotland in August and make sure we don’t come home with any paper notes.
Thank you Marco.
Has anyone had problems getting “old” currency from their US bank pre-trip. Since I’ll be groggy from not sleeping on the plane, I want to land with a few £s and not deal with an ATM then.
I actually saw this happen on Yelp, someone said a money changer in LA gave them old money that they had trouble using on a trip. IIRC the owner posted something fishy like Well you didn't say you wanted new money.
And you're smart to have cash in pocket before hitting the ground.
@horsewoofie - that’s where knowing what the current currency is could save problems. If your bank or currency exchange attempted to give you currency you can’t use, you just don’t accept it. In the case of the paper £20 and £50 notes, there’s no reason they couldn’t give them to you since they can still be used. You could specify when ordering currency that you only want the polymer notes. I haven’t used a bank or currency exchange in years. At the end of one trip I get enough £ or € to begin the next trip.
The paper £20 notes probably would under normal circumstances have been withdrawn back in 2020.
Although you can always exchange at the Bank of England not everyone goes to London. I remember coming across a distressed Chinese couple in Belfast who had around £120 in obsolete BoE notes who couldn't find any organisation that would change them. They'd just come out of a Danske Bank branch that had basically told them something along the lines of 'these aren't our notes so it is your problem'.
Telling that story reminds me that the withdrawal date also applies to notes issued by the banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland too.
Marco, just checking …
paper £20 and £50 notes still floating about somewhere. This is over a fifth of notes in circulation by value.
Both of these will become useable from 30 September 2022 with only the current polymer series being accepted
You say “useable from 30 September” in your original posting as of this moment. Should that say “unusable?” From subsequent postings, I take it that the old, paper notes are still being accepted for commerce through the end of a September, but as of October 1, only the newer, smaller, polymer notes will be accepted for commerce. From the 2 new and 2 old notes I possess right now, it’s interesting that the Queen’s image remains the same on the new notes, but Adam Smith on the reverse of the old notes has been dropped, in favor of J.M.W. Turner.
Maybe this is an American versus British thing, but I understand your wording to indicate that as of September 30, 2022, that’s when the paper notes become “useable.” Since that’s probably not actually the situation, I wanted to make sure. Leaving in 3 days, so those oldest £20 notes will be given to the first merchant who accepts them! Thank you for this thread!
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/polymer-20-pound-note
Bank of England says the paper notes may be used until Sept 30, 2022
Yea! Great news - hope the timing works for lots of other folks heading to the UK within the next 6 months.
Last time I stayed in London, my bed and breakfast accepted the old notes as payment. They could deposit them at their bank, and save me a trip to the Bank of England.
Maybe this is an American versus British thing, but I understand your wording to indicate that as of September 30, 2022, that’s when the paper notes become “useable.”
Typo now corrected. But the heading of "withdrawal" and "only the current polymer series being accepted" I hope were clear.
All clear now, and thank you again again for the information, Marco!
