An American asked Brits to explain why there’s such a big difference between bank notes from England, Scotland, and Ireland as he spotted a confusing sign during UK visit
An American has expressed their confusion and asked for clarification regarding the different bank notes around the UK, as they recalled spotting an odd sign during a visit to the UK.
Despite consisting of four different nations, all countries and territories of the UK use the same currency, the pound sterling. This is because the UK is unified sovereign state with a centralised monetary system managed by the Bank of England. While Scottish and Northern Irish banks issue their own banknotes, they are equal in value to Bank of England notes and accepted throughout the UK. However, this has caused some confusion from one American, who was left with questions after his visit to England.
Taking to ‘AskABrit’ forum on Reddit, one American went on to ask for clarification about the British bank notes, as getting confused when spotting a specific sign on a visit to the UK.
“When I visited greater London in 1979, there was a shop in Hertfordshire that posted a sign ‘Scottish notes not accepted,” they recalled.
They said their friend had explained both Scotland and Northern Ireland printed pound notes, and that something like 2 different banks in Scotland and no fewer than 4 banks in Northern Ireland did as well.
The friend had then explained these bank notes are supposed to be worth the same, but if you came to England from either Scotland or Northern Ireland, you had to exchange these notes for English notes at a bank.
“This setup still baffles me today,” they said, explaining while some older American bank notes might have some different detailing, they pretty much looked the same and was worth the same everywhere.
“Living close to Canada, there were times people tried to pay with them, but only at a fairly unfavourable exchange rate,” they said, explaining that ‘Canadian currency was NEVER “at par” with American currency’.
The Reddit user then asked if this case about different bank notes from different parts of the UK are still the case, and why this might be.
One person went on to explain: “I can’t explain exactly why they exist but the reason for not accepting Scottish notes in England is usually a counterfeit thing. With us not seeing as many we probably wouldn’t be able to spot fakes as easily so some places just refuse to accept them.”
Another person added since many Englishmen wouldn’t be able to recognise counterfeit Scottish bank notes, they said: “Many English shops therefore will decline to take non-English notes because they are afraid of taking counterfeit money and therefore losing income.”
“Not many people use cash these days anyway so it’s rather irrelevant,” another person explained.
Someone else pointed out: “Yes well of course your dollars are accepted anywhere in America, you’re still the same country!”
As for if this British currency was available to use in Ireland, people were quick to point out the difference between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
