New polymer £50 note to be launched - MSE News

RustyShackleford

Seems a waste of money doing this now. If the hard-Brexiters get their way we'll be required to switch to the Euro when we crawl back to the EU begging to rejoin.

eskbanker

RustyShackleford wrote: »

Seems a waste of money doing this now. If the hard-Brexiters get their way we'll be required to switch to the Euro when we crawl back to the EU begging to rejoin.

Wow - it's not exactly uncommon for threads to be deflected onto Brexit from a distance but that has to be one of the most tenuous and gratuitous examples yet!

aj23_2

d123 wrote: »

Agreed, there were plenty of fake £20’s out there, don’t think I ever saw a fake £50.

It's legal tender. Go to America and use $100 bills, no one cares. A note is a note. I draw out 50s on purpose to use because it gives me a laugh when shop assistants have no idea what to do with it.

spenderdave

I remember many years ago when a group of us arrived in Amsterdam and got on a bus, each with a 1000 Gelder note. No problem, we all got the right change and there was no hassle. Maybe the Dutch drivers near the airport are used to this sort of thing.

realaledrinker

ATMs in Euroland seem to spew €50 notes out whenever I draw cash out but shops accept then without demur. Different cultures I guess.

GaleSF63

I've never even seen a £50 note though I have seen a £100.

shortcrust

aj23 wrote: »

It's legal tender. Go to America and use $100 bills, no one cares. A note is a note. I draw out 50s on purpose to use because it gives me a laugh when shop assistants have no idea what to do with it.

Hilarious.

Legal tender doesn’t mean shops have to accept them. They can say no to a 50 and there’s nothing you can do about it.

I think realaledrinker is right. It’s a cultural thing. They’re just not considered to be part of the standard set of circulating currency by a lot of people.

The 80s £50 note with Sir Christopher Wren on the back is a thing of beauty. I was lucky enough to get one for Christmas when I was a kid and couldn’t bring myself to spend it for weeks!

JezR

£20 notes were introduced in 1970 (or more accurately re-introduced) at a time when a weekly paid wage in cash for most wouldn't have been two of them. It took a decade of high inflation or more before these entered general circulation and weren't replaced until 1991 by a note of a physical size more in keeping with its reduced value.

The modern £50 note appeared in 1981 and by now is worth quite a bit less than the £20 note was in the 1980s when it became ubiquitous. It is largely kept out of circulation because it isn't readily dispensed by cash machines. However, it is by no means a high denomination note in European or absolute terms.

eDicky

I generally keep in reserve, in a discrete section of my wallet, a single £50 note, along with a US$100 bill and a S'pore$1000 note (~£550). There used to also be a 500€ note but it came in handy in a time of need. But I'm a bit of a traveler...

Robisere

Zanderman wrote: »

Every shop I use still uses cash - in my home town and indeed everywhere I go.

Most use cards too.

But neither payment system (cards or cash) is forced on the customer.

None don't use cash.

Where are you that 'very few shops' use cash?

This is what I posted, please re-read:
" I do keep a little change for parking and the very few shops that still use cash, and the local markets."

-Talking specifically about my situation in my hometown. Not generally, about everywhere else. Blimey, the way you can attract misdirected comments here!:(