Money Manners in Scotland

I am not certain what else you were expecting to use?

Although I have not yet been there I have been told that the Scots are an independent sort and even though they are part of the UK I just thought that it might be good manners to use Scottish Bank Notes (Cash/Money) when paying for things when we are not using a credit card. That's all.

You will, in all likelihood, get Scottish GBP notes from ATMs, but it all spends. We saw no hesitation to accept GBP in any form.

Are you concerned about Scotts being offended if you pay with English banknotes?

as long as you use GB pounds we really don't care if they are English Scottish or Irish banks issued.No offense will be taken whatever notes you use.

don't return home with Scottish notes expecting to change them at a US bank - you'll find it very difficult

Most people won't notice, beyond it being a five or whatever pound note.

if you do get left with Scottish notes , just put them in a envelope and mark it For the attention of unclegus and leave it at the info point of Edinburgh airport, I can always make use of them.

Just curious - if Scottish notes are the same currency as Bank of England notes, why are they more difficult to exchange back to USD? Seems silly to me that this whole post was dedicated to clarifying that they are the same currency, yet the ability to exchange them is different? Carry on...

OR am I just daft and missed the joke? That's quite possible....haha.

if Scottish notes are the same currency as Bank of England notes, why are they more difficult to exchange back to USD?

They are more difficult to exchange in the USA.

The concept of authorising private banks to issue their own notes is not unique to the UK; Hong Kong and Macau also do it.

There were also private issues in England at one time, but the last one authorised to do so finished in 1921 when it merged with Lloyds.

why are they more difficult to exchange back to USD?

ask the US banks

The US banks do not recognize either the Scottish or Irish bank notes as valid GBP. They refuse to exchange them. The reasoning is too difficult to try and explain in the limited space here (and I'm not really sure I completely understand it) and is based on the legal definition of what money is vs what a promissory note is. So just spend all of your Scottish or Irish pounds before returning home.

talking to strangers which, I believe, is illegal in London

I believe it is legal in pubs though. So it's better to spend the majority of your time in one.

make sure you don't get handed any of the OLD 5 pound notes. No one will take them. I got one at a take away place, and tried to buy something right after at another store and got turned down. They are worthless in the UK now.
The new one has a plastic feel, and you can see through it on the left hand side...the old one is basically still just paper.
Watch for old 1 pound coins as well

So frustrating to not know what you are doing, and lose money value because someone else wants to get old currnency off their hands.

From what I understand, you have to take the 5 pound notes to a Bank of England...unless you have an account with the Bank of Scotland if you want to exchange discontinued bills/coins

I promise you, you will get a mixture of Bank of Scotland and Bank of England notes and coins...they all spend the same, except for the exceptions above.

I made sure to spend all my cash before returning home. I charged everything I could, but took 200 out when we arrived for our 3 week stay. I just didn't want to have to charge a hot chocolate at a shop, or a candy bar at a store, or a small sandwich lunch.. I manged to come home with 1, 1 pound coin...