Northern Ireland funny money in the rest of the UK

imme · 23-04-2019 10:15PM #1

Does anyone have any experience of being able to spend Northern Ireland 'funny money' in other parts of the UK.

I have some NI sterling and would like to spend it in England or Scotland.

Thanks.

OldMrBrennan83 · 23-04-2019 10:17PM

imme wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of being able to spend Northern Ireland 'funny money' in other parts of the UK.

I have some NI sterling and would like to spend it in England or Scotland.

Thanks.

I've had better luck in Scotland than England but for the most part you'll be turned down more often than not on the mainland. Can you lodge it and withdraw from a machine that gives BoE notes?

NIMAN · 23-04-2019 10:21PM

I have seen both sides. Some accept it, others don't. I have had to point out that sterling is written on it to a few people.

Why take the hassle, change it for UK sterling.

JohnnyFlash · 23-04-2019 10:22PM

It’s ****ing stupid anyway having all the banks print their own notes.

McMurphy · 23-04-2019 10:31PM

The sterling printed in the north is not actually legal tender in Britain.

TheValeyard · 23-04-2019 10:34PM

Same as other posters have said. Ive been able to use it in Edinburgh once. But never was accepted in any other part of UK.

Pinch Flat · 23-04-2019 10:38PM

imme wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of being able to spend Northern Ireland 'funny money' in other parts of the UK.

I have some NI sterling and would like to spend it in England or Scotland.

Thanks.

Northern Irish and Scottish notes are not legal tender in England and Wales (and vice versa), although coins are. Some places may accept them, but entirely at their discretion.

BrokenArrows · 23-04-2019 10:41PM

It's all down to whether the staff recognise the notes. If all else fails use the self service machines in Tesco or Sainsbury's. They accept it.

nullzero · 23-04-2019 10:43PM

I think some people in the UK hear an Irish accent and become difficult about accepting coins and notes from Wales, Scotland and northern Ireland.

I've received all types of sterling as change in England and its only a problem spending it when they hear me speak.

There's still a disrtust of the Irish with some people over there.

KevRossi · 23-04-2019 10:52PM

I've changed NI money in banks in England before. No issue, if the cashier is in doiubt then get the senior cashier, they usually know.

I always got 1:1, bar a couple of places who took a £2-£5 handling charge.

andekwarhola · 23-04-2019 11:29PM

It's legal tender but most retail staff won't have a clue what it is, in my experience. Just change it to UK sterling or lodge it to your Visa or Debit account. To be fair, the first time I went to the North, I got a genuine surprise when I saw the different sterling notes from various banks. I was expecting UK sterling and I'm Irish.

citytillidie · 23-04-2019 11:52PM

Never had an issue with it in Liverpool

Spook_ie · 23-04-2019 11:58PM

Anyone got pre 2005 Northern Bank notes?

vandriver · 24-04-2019 12:02AM

andekwarhola wrote: »

It's legal tender but most retail staff won't have a clue what it is, in my experience. Just change it to UK sterling or lodge it to your Visa or Debit account. To be fair, the first time I went to the North, I got a genuine surprise when I saw the different sterling notes from various banks. I was expecting UK sterling and I'm Irish.

NI and Scottish notes aren't even legal tender in their own territories.

andekwarhola · 24-04-2019 12:06AM

vandriver wrote: »

NI and Scottish notes aren't even legal tender in their own territories.

Probaby legal tender is the wrong phrase if by that you mean retailers are obliged to take it in England. I just meant I've successfully exchanged it before.

road_high · 24-04-2019 12:18AM

I never got this...I can go to the Greek isles and spend the same euros, you can’t spend the same currency in the so called United Kingdom without drama and hassle. Do they ever look at themselves and how absolutely ridiculous some of their ways are.
Was in a Sainsburys once and the lady had to check with a colleague that they took Belfast sterling, they did. Ok in the bigger shops I think

FTA69 · 24-04-2019 12:20AM

The phrase legal tender means nothing and the vast majority of businesses won’t take it. It’s a pain in the hole, get rid of it or swap it for normal sterling.

Also absolute f*cking state of anyone using the term “mainland”.

cj maxx · 24-04-2019 12:26AM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Northern Irish and Scottish notes are not legal tender in England and Wales (and vice versa), although coins are. Some places may accept them, but entirely at their discretion.

I didn’t know that , cheers ,

donegal_man · 24-04-2019 12:32AM

Never had any problems with NI sterling in Liverpool or Manchester. They're probably more used seeing it with the numbers going across to watch the football.

imme · 24-04-2019 07:56PM

Thanks to all for the replies.

I didn't know NI bank sterling wasn't legal tender in other parts of UK.

I will try to spend it all the same.

Fann Linn · 24-04-2019 08:02PM

My daughter was over there last week, Leeds, and the fivers have apparently been changed over the last year or so also and the shops, buses or taxis wouldn't change or take the old notes either.
In the end she just went into a high street bank on the Monday and changed all of her NI and old sterling for 'real' money.

imme · 24-04-2019 08:05PM

Fann Linn wrote: »

My daughter was over there last week, Leeds, and the fivers have apparently been changed over the last year or so also and the shops, buses or taxis wouldn't change or take the old notes either.
In the end she just went into a high street bank on the Monday and changed all of her NI and old sterling for 'real' money.

The bank of England £5 has changed and now has Winston Churchill on it.
They wouldn't accept the previous£5?

Fann Linn · 24-04-2019 08:10PM

imme wrote: »

The bank of England £5 has changed and now has Winston Churchill on it.
They wouldn't accept the previous£5?

Nope. That's what she said. Landed in Leeds on a Sunday morning, and various services and shops wouldn't take her NI or old stg. Her pal lent her money and she changed everything then the next day in a bank.

OldMrBrennan83 · 24-04-2019 08:15PM

Yeah it's a good while since the old fivers went. They changed the £1 coin too.

imme · 24-04-2019 08:17PM

Fann Linn wrote: »

Nope. That's what she said. Landed in Leeds on a Sunday morning, and various services and shops wouldn't take her NI or old stg. Her pal lent her money and she changed everything then the next day in a bank.

There is a time for everything under heaven.
There was probably a cut off date for accepting the old Fiver.

Vic_08 · 24-04-2019 08:50PM

imme wrote: »

There is a time for everything under heaven.
There was probably a cut off date for accepting the old Fiver.

May 2017 was the withdrawal date for the paper £5, March 2018 for the £10.

Polymer £20 will be introduced next year and £50 after that.

Although plenty of shops won't take £50s as well as "foreign" Sterling.

Scottish and NI banks are switching to polymer notes of the same size as BoE notes so there should be less trouble spending them although never underestimate the ignorance of the English.

Spook_ie · 24-04-2019 09:02PM

Vic_08 wrote: »

May 2017 was the withdrawal date for the paper £5, March 2018 for the £10.

Polymer £20 will be introduced next year and £50 after that.

Although plenty of shops won't take £50s as well as "foreign" Sterling.

Scottish and NI banks are switching to polymer notes of the same size as BoE notes so there should be less trouble spending them although never underestimate the ignorance of the English.

To be fair, unless you know the attributes of the notes regarding forgery like raised print sections, watermarks, UV markings etc. you would likely not accept them either. I certainly wouldn't.

Snow Garden · 24-04-2019 09:04PM

Thinly veiled 'I stole an ATM using a JCB and I am on the run in England' thread

Esel · 24-04-2019 09:06PM

Spook_ie wrote: »

Anyone got pre 2005 Northern Bank notes?

Ask Gerry, garda.

road_high · 24-04-2019 09:08PM

Their withdrawal dates are ridiculously narrow too...here when Notes and indeed currency changed the old ones remained legal tender for ages. I’ve a load of older English pounds coins left, not sure what I can do with them?
They have a very strange and old fashioned approach to cash and currency

Vic_08 · 24-04-2019 09:11PM

Spook_ie wrote: »

To be fair, unless you know the attributes of the notes regarding forgery like raised print sections, watermarks, UV markings etc. you would likely not accept them either. I certainly wouldn't.

They are notes issued and legal in their own country, we are not talking about expecting people to accept money from some far-flung place they have never heard of, even if that is the attitude many English have towards NI.

As it happens I did accept them regularly, mostly NI and English but some Scottish and even a Channel Islands note once, no really issue at all and never had a forgery problem.

The fear of fakes is the most often quoted reason for not accepting Scottish notes in England although I am sceptical it is anything more than apocryphal that Scottish notes are more likely to be forged.

This shouldn't be an issue with the Polymer notes as they are more similar to each other and are extremely difficult to forge.

Northern Ireland funny money in the rest of the UK

Comments