N. Ireland Sterling - Acceptable in mainland UK?

dilallio

I know that Northern Irish banknotes are legal tender in the UK, but are they freely accepted in shops & restaurants in the UK.

My OH is travelling to London this weekend, and I have NI sterling left over from a previous visit to Belfast. Should she exchange these for Bank of England notes, or will most shops / buisnesses accept them in London?

Also, if she has to exchange them, is there anywhere in Ireland to do this without paying transaction fees.

Many thanks.

murphaph

In my experience places like airports and railway stations will take them but smaller restaurants and such like may well (legally) refuse. They are not compelled to take them, despite what some people think.

Why not just keep them for the next trip north of the border?

whomitconcerns

you will generally be ok in London or big cities. But deffo some places will take a second and third look when they see Bank of Ireland/Ulster Bank, etc bank notes

Cushie Butterfield

Your own bank here should exchange them for Bank of England notes without charge.

donegal.

its a real pain in the ass , you'd be better off taking monopoly money

rainbowdash

Why do they have such a ridiculous system in the first place?

theblueirish

I have never had any problem but as a precaution i keep one BOE note in my wallet and offer to pay using the NI notes. If they kick up a fuss you have the BOE note to fall back on.
I have yet to have anyone not accept the NI note.

vinylbomb

You'll get funny looks and occasionally someone will refuse to take them, but most of the time if you persevere politely they will accept it eventually.

Mint Sauce

Exchange them at the Beuru De Change at your arrival airport. I have done this several times at gatwick with no issue and no charge.

Tried it at one of the banks in London before where even the cashier had to verify the notes with her supervisor/manager. Couple of shops told me they would take Bank of Scotland, but not any NI.

dilallio

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies.

donegal.

i have had them refused loads of times, more often than they've been accepted

melekalikimaka

scottish money is refused alot

AlmightyCushion

rainbowdash wrote: »

Why do they have such a ridiculous system in the first place?

Never understood it myself either. Luckily, it doesn't seem to be that much of a problem in my experience. I've been to a few different places in the UK with northern notes and never had a problem.

coylemj

I exchanged them no bother here in Dublin before my last trip to the 'mainland'. I had notes from three different NI banks, fortunately they all had branches in Blackrock here in Dublin so in about 5 minutes I was sorted.

First Trust = AIB
Bank of Ireland (Donegall Place, Belfast) = Bank of Ireland
Ulster Bank = Ulster Bank

And if there are still Northern Bank notes out there, you could take them into a branch of Danske Bank.

I believe the licence they have to print NI sterling notes requires them to exchange them for BOE notes on demand.

I wouldn't try tendering them anywhere in GB except in a bank.

Richard

dilallio wrote: »

I know that Northern Irish banknotes are legal tender in the UK, but are they freely accepted in shops & restaurants in the UK.

My OH is travelling to London this weekend, and I have NI sterling left over from a previous visit to Belfast. Should she exchange these for Bank of England notes, or will most shops / buisnesses accept them in London?

Also, if she has to exchange them, is there anywhere in Ireland to do this without paying transaction fees.

Many thanks.

They're not legal tender anywhere, including NI, but they are legal currency. No shop has to take them (in fact, a shop could refuse Bank of England notes if they wanted to), but although she might get some strange looks, they'll take them.

Also, Tesco self-service tills take them, so she can buy something small I'm one of these and get change in Bank of England notes and coins.

coylemj

coylemj wrote: »

And if there are still Northern Bank notes out there, you could take them into a branch of Danske Bank.

Danske Bank are now cashless so I don't think you could.

coylemj

Richard wrote: »

They're not legal tender anywhere, including NI, but they are legal currency.

Would you care to enlighten us as to the difference between 'legal tender' and 'legal currency'?

Richard wrote: »

No shop has to take them (in fact, a shop could refuse Bank of England notes if they wanted to)

You are technically correct although a shop refusing BOE notes would be a mystery unless it was dedicated to cashless bartering.

Richard wrote: »

but although she might get some strange looks, they'll take them.

I wouldn't be so sure. Most retail outlets in GB will see 'Ireland' and will refuse them. Try tendering a 'Bank of Ireland' note in London, tell the counter clerk that it's sterling and they'll laugh at you.

An illustration of the attitude you get in GB: I was once buying a packet of cigarettes in a small Tesco branch in London at a time when we were on the Punt and our copper 1p & 2p coins were the same size as their UK counterparts. Although I thought I had segregated my coins, by accident there was one (and only one) copper 'Eire' coin in the money I tendered and the ignorant cow woman on the cash desk literally threw it back at me and said she didn't want 'any of that Irish money'.