Bank of England-older pound notes

[TW6cruiser]

I thought I’d post an update.  A helpful guy at a pub advised me that there is an Euroexchange store at the West Quay mall.  We walked there and I was able to exchange the small amount of older pound notes I had for the new ones.  Yes, they charged a small fee, but it was better than loosing the worth of what I had, or fussing with forms and putting confidential info in the mail.  

[mommb]

On 8/19/2023 at 11:26 AM, TW6cruiser said:

I thought I’d post an update.  A helpful guy at a pub advised me that there is an Euroexchange store at the West Quay mall.  We walked there and I was able to exchange the small amount of older pound notes I had for the new ones.  Yes, they charged a small fee, but it was better than loosing the worth of what I had, or fussing with forms and putting confidential info in the mail.  

Thanks! I wish I'd thought of that last week. My husband had 20 or 30 pounds in older bills left over from a 2017 trip. We went to the post office near West Quay in Southampton to try to exchange them, and the clerk suggested asking at a bank. We then asked at a bank, which couldn't help us since we didn't have an account. It didn't occur to me to look for a currency exchange. If we're in Southampton for another cruise before we find another solution, that's what we'll use.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

I used the Euroexchange in Windsor. They charged me 10% fees which I thought was excessive but 36 pounds in the pocket is better than 40 pounds collecting dust. I also asked the exchange at the airport but was told they could change them into another currency, not give me new pounds.

[caradara]

I had no idea about this until I arrived in London.  Since I had a small amount I just deposited it in the donation box at a church that I visited.

[tony s]

We have pounds with Queen Elizabeth on them. How long are they valid?

[markeb]

1 hour ago, tony s said:

We have pounds with Queen Elizabeth on them. How long are they valid?

 

Are they the current plasticized notes? If so, there's no phase out date announced. If they're the older paper notes, they're not valid now, but can be traded.

 

There was a lot written about this with the ascent of Charles. Had to look it up, but apparently coins with Charles on them are already in circulation and bills are due to be released this year (2024). Those will coexist with Elizabeth. One interesting article pointed out that having multiple monarchs in circulation at the same time was the norm historically; Elizabeth II's reign was so long that her predecessor's currency "wore out" and only currency with her image remained. It's entirely possible you'll see Elizabeth, Charles, and (one day) William all in circulation together.

[Globaliser]

Late last year, a friend went to the Bank of England to swap some old notes - as much for the novelty experience as anything else. Despite the warnings on the website, it didn't actually take very long because he only had a small number of notes to do.

[Cotswold Eagle]

7 hours ago, markeb said:

One interesting article pointed out that having multiple monarchs in circulation at the same time was the norm historically; Elizabeth II's reign was so long that her predecessor's currency "wore out" and only currency with her image remained.

This will be true of coins, but Elizabeth II was the fist monarch to appear on Bank of England notes. (George V was on some notes issued by HM Treasury during the First World War, but they would have been long gone by the time the Bank issued their first notes with the Queen on in the 1960s).

[markeb]

12 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

This will be true of coins, but Elizabeth II was the fist monarch to appear on Bank of England notes. (George V was on some notes issued by HM Treasury during the First World War, but they would have been long gone by the time the Bank issued their first notes with the Queen on in the 1960s).

Thanks. That's an interesting piece of history not mentioned in the articles I found. I suspect there are other little details that will come up for the first time in 70 years as time goes on. 

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, markeb said:

Thanks. That's an interesting piece of history not mentioned in the articles I found. I suspect there are other little details that will come up for the first time in 70 years as time goes on. 

The late queen has been on Canadian banknotes since she appeared as Princess Elizabeth on the 1935 $20 bill at the age of 8.