£20 notes

Sn06gav

Is it illegal for a shop to stop accepting old £20 notes. 

My corner shop has stopped accepting them. 

[Deleted User]

No they can refuse what they want. Some refuse small change, others only accept cards 

Sn06gav

They have a sign on the till saying, we do no accept old £20 notes

[Deleted User]

They can refuse what they want 

Mickey666

The old £20 is still legal tender and the BoE has stated it will give six months notice of the withdrawal date.
https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/22/when-old-20-notes-expire-what-12728497/

However . . . . 
Legal tender has a narrow technical meaning which has no use in everyday life. It means that if you offer to fully pay off a debt to someone in legal tender, they can’t sue you for failing to repay. (https://edu.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender/)
. . . but in the case of a shopkeeper refusing to accept an old £20 note (or any 'legal tender' actually) there is no 'debt' to be paid because there is no transaction because the shopkeeper has refused the customer's 'offer' of purchase - which they are perfectly entitled to do.

greenface2

Take it into the chippy or petrol station after you've had your goods see what they say . But they can refuse to accept your money . 

maxsteam

Have you ever tried to pay for drinks with a £50 note or an Ulster Bank note? It's certainly impolite and inconvenient to tell someone that their money is not acceptable and it will cause unnecessary offence, but it's not breaking any rules. Because of the virus (and hype from the people who promote card payment systems), some places are only accepting cards.

Even after notes cease to be legal tender, it will still be possible to deposit them at banks or exchange them by post with the Bank of England. If you are lucky, they might become worth more than their face value to collectors.