Scottish currency
 

We'll be in Scotland late this summer before moving south to England.

I'm told that English merchants are very unwilling to accept Scottish pounds.

Does anyone have any experience here?

Some will accept Scottish notes, some won't. They don't have to accept them as they aren't legal in England and it costs them to take to the bank to change them.

The simplest thing to do is ensure that you have as little Scottish currency as possible when you leave Scotland - some ATMs such as those associated with Barclays & National Westminster as well as those at train stations and airports will issue Bank of England notes so you can use them to ensure you don't have Scottish notes when you leave

Personally I've never had any issue with having Scottish notes accepted in England. I've noticed recently that they can at times confuse some of the Eastern Europeans that seem to power a large part of our service economy these days, but they will generally just ask one of their colleagues or supervisors to confirm that it is legal tender.

I assume you mean "legal tender". Scottish notes are clearly "legal" in that there is nothing illegal in using them anywhere in the UK, however you are correct in stating that they are not legal tender in England, although it might interest you to know that they are not actually "legal tender" in Scotland either.

As a Scot living in England... It depends where and what. The smaller the place and the larger the denomination, the harder it is to spend, generally speaking - particularly the newer Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale notes, which aren't very well recognised in the South of England.

Usually, though, I make it clear that it's that or nothing, and that works :)

Scottish currency
 

If you get your pounds in advance they'll likely be Bank of England notes which are universally accepted. If you're planning on getting them from a cash machine, try to use a non-Scottish bank - RBS, Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale all issue their own notes so you're more likely to get Scottish ones.

You do get the occasional person who won't accept Scottish notes in England, but on the whole it really isn't a massive issue, so try not to worry about it!

I've personally never had a problem using Scottish notes in England. Major shops accept them, although I suppose that there will be some employees who are unused to them and so will query them, or even refuse them. If the worst happens, a bank will change them for you, but I'd be surprised if that proved to be necessary.

Anyone have any experience with Northern Irish notes in England? I made sure to get rid of all mine before heading back to the mainland (via the Eurozone), since at least one person indicated they would be treated with way more skepticism than Scottish notes. I'm curious more than anything…

In my experience, they're much rarer than Scottish notes. Though that may be because I'm on the East coast. (I swear the buffet car on East Coast trains has a secret stash of Scottish notes that they save for when they hear an English accent!)

I'd imagine that they're a bit more common in and around Stranraer (where the ferry from Belfast arrives in Scotland) and such places.

But in general, they're probably harder to shift than Scottish notes. If you get stuck with one, keep trying until someone accepts it. You can always take it to a bank and hope a teller takes pity on you (if they try to charge you, or insist that you need to be a customer, walk out and try a different bank).

That has been my experience. Supermarkets are rarely a problem but small corner shops and pubs/bars can be.

I've occasionally had problems with Scottish notes, but like stut, refused to tender anything else. £20 are viewed with more suspicion than £10 as there are some forged £20 going around, and retailers are much less likely to be able to spot a forged £20 Scottish note than an English one.

Scottish notes are ugly, and look like they’re off a monopoly board.

You can get proper English notes from the cash machine at Edinburgh airport, or wait till your back south of the border.

I always stock up on proper money before I travel to Edinburgh, and try to avoid getting the funny money in change.

There’s really no problem avoiding Scottish notes all together, an I suggest that's what you should aim to do; there’s no problem spending English notes in Scotland, whereas the reverse isn’t always the case.

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)

Unless you're changing a lot of cash and not using plastic, you shouldn't be left with a lot of Scottish Cash.

I'm sure most banks South of the Border will change the funny money for you, if you experience difficulties. Which you should not.

It used to be the further south you went the weirder the look you got when handing one over......or maybe people just get weirder the further south you go?

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.