Originally Posted by
alanR
No I mean legal, the only banknotes that are legal in England & Wales are those issued by the Bank of England. Anything else is just accepted (or in the case of Northern Ireland notes NOT accepted outside a few pubs in Glasgow)
As the
Captain said above, they're not legal tender - not even in Scotland. Nor are Bank of England notes in Scotland. But they're are legal currency everywhere in the UK, and are authorised by an Act of Parliament.
There's some general information at
http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/legal_position.php and the legal position at
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/bankn...rnireland.aspx
In practice, you won't have trouble spending Scottish notes in England, other than the relatively rare £1 notes.
I quite like using them to pay for rounds of drinks, because a barman is unlikely to take back a few pints once they've been poured - but it's been quite some time since anyone's actually tried to refuse to take one. Though I did once have to try to explain the person and the map on an old
Clydesdale Bank £10 at the work canteen at 3am, when neither of us was really awake enough to comprehend it why there was a map of part of Nigeria on something Scottish.
Also, once someone's pointed out to you that the Exchange Building (click on the banknote on the second row on
this page to see it) looks like a doner kebab, you really can't unsee it.
Originally Posted by
HIDDY
I never experienced a knock back in all the years I ventured across the border or even the few years I stayed in England. I remember the French used to give you a poorer rate when changing Scottish bank notes though.
Spotted this in Toronto a few years ago:
It's a bit hard to make out, but Scotland had a better rate listed than England!