cbaird

Hi, we are in France today and tomorrow but heading for England and Scotland Saturday. I am thinking I got too many euros and might have some left. My brother in law in Manchester says places up ther will take both but that is not what I am reading. Anyone have recent experience with this? We will also be in London for a day. I just don't want to have to come home (US) with much money tied up in them. Where would I look for a place to exchange them if so? We will be in Manchester Airport and Heathrow.
Thanks!

jamikins

I think it would be rare for businesses to accept euros here in London. Perhaps at a major tourist attraction in London like the London Dungeons, but I would not expect it at any restaurants or anywhere really. Perhaps some businesses at the airports will. There are currency exchanges at all the airports - cant comment on the exchange rate you will get though.

We just keep it for the next trip...

indy_dad

I would doubt that Euros would be accepted. If they were, it would be at a crude (low) exchange rate. If you don't want to save them for another trip, then exchange them at a bank or even the airport for convenience.

madamtrashheap

Echoing the others, it is rare to find anywhere that will take Euro in lieu of GBP. Unless it's noted on menus or at attractions, most don't.

In terms of places to exchange them, perhaps exchange some in France to already have for your arrival (and if it's a good rate, exchange them all!). Once in UK, banks and even Marks & Spencer Exchange office (in the larger stores, not the Simply Food small ones) often have a better rate than your usual Travelex type places.

Alec

Change most of your euro in France for sterling, as that will give you a better rate (you get around 1.30 euro per £ in UK). As noted, few places accept euro in UK, and even if they do (like some large stores like M&S), they only take notes and give you change in sterling.

xyz123

Euro is not the currency of the UK, therefore one is at the mercy of what the merchants wish to do. Now I have seen signs in a couple of places saying they take euro (I think at booking offices in many tube stations I think I've seen a sign) and at the Tower of London but there is no control, of course, over the exchange rate. It can be as good or as poor as the merchant wishes it to be.

But you can go into most any bank. In the window you will see the exchange rates listed (they will be buying euro). Similarly you get good rates at Marks&Spencer's foreign currencydesk.

indy_dad

That exchange rate is a little outdated. More like 1.13€ to 1£

ribeirasacra

All of these ney sayers!
http://gouk.about.com/od/ukcurrencym...uros_in_UK.htm
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=552637
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntre...readID=2001076
http://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london...ept-euros.html
some of the answers on these forums go way off subject but read through the dross and you will see who takes the Euro.

flanneruk

I honestly don't know whether you get better value exchanging your € for £ in the UK or France (whether at a change place or with a merchant) than you'd get changing them for $ in the US.

The fact that you're likely to get better value at a post office or M&S than at an airport or giving them to a retailer claiming to accept euros tells you nothing about whether you're better off keeping them in your pocket till you get home.

Both M&S and UK post offices pay more in rent than any US bank, pay their staff no less than US banks pay clerks and sell euros to local customers for a lot less. It's perfectly possible they offer less for returned euros (lots of us shop round when buying currency to take abroad: few of us bother when returning unused cash).

Wherever you do it, the business offering the service is going to charge you for their trouble. Only you know how much your home bank will change you for the same service.

madamtrashheap

ribeirasacra, I think you'll find that the bulk of us "naysayers" above actually reside in the UK so are giving first-hand information on the ease of using Euro in the UK. As we've noted, some sights will have prices in Euro at the entrance, but the bulk of places either don't accept Euro or if they do then the exchange rate won't be a great one and you'll lose more than if you exchanged the cash (and coins, gid rid of your coins before you leave the Eurozone - nothing like a handful of coins to cause bad currency lag!) in the first place.

There are always examples of the odd place taking Euro for payment, but as a general rule it's not as common as you'd think (try paying in Scottish Pounds, almost as hard yet this is legal tender in the UK) and will result in an unfavourable exchange rate being used.

alanRow

"(try paying in Scottish Pounds, almost as hard yet this is legal tender in the UK) "

They aren't, they aren't even legal tender in Scotland - they are legally ACCEPTED in Scotland but outside of Scotland there's no legal requirement for anyone to accept them.

Lifeman

M&S bureau de change are run by Travelex, who notoriously give very poor exchange rates. They offer no commission and buy back, but the rate itself is very poor. Their rates at airports are even worse.

Go for a bank, you'll still get a poor rate but not quite as bad. Apart from places like M&S, retailers in the UK don't accept euros. If you can one to do so, they'll again give you a terrible rate to compensate them for changing the euros and making a mark up for themselves.

avalon

The only place I have ever had any luck using currency other than the national one was in Ieper Belgium. They would take GBP, French Francs, Belgian Francs , and American dollars. The cash registers seemed to make the choice. Guess they had to program them every day. Some places in the UK won't even accept Scottish bank issued pounds. Though I've never figured that one out.

I always just keep mine for the next trip. Came home with some cheaper GBP lastMarch so I am actually ahead of the game!

xyz123

I can't get into any of those web sites up above; my computer claims they are suspicious but no matter. Everybody here gave the same answer essentially. Are there merchants in the UK that accept euro? Yes. As a general rule do they accept euro? No. Can anybody quantify the number of merchants who accept euro? No but even if one could and told you that 8.,34% of the merchants will accept euro, will that do you any good? As with all currency transactions dealing with cash, exchange rates vary depending on just how much the currencdy exchange place wishes to rip you off with. Nobody gives anywhere near what the going rate is. As of this moment according to xe.com, if you were to exchange €100, you should get £87.79...the difference between that figure and what the currency exchange gives you is their fee whether they call it a commission or not and varies widely. Some are bad, others are nauseating.

That is one of the reasons, you try not to use cash when travelling if you can avoid it. I credit card everything and have a credit card that not only doesn't charge a currency exchange fee, it eats the 1% visa fee and gives me a 2% rebate on everything I purchase. I don't worry about whether they take euro or USD or Scottish pounds in England. But even if you're silly enough (you said you were American) to use a credit card issued by one of the near criminal banks that pass along the visa/mc 1% fee and add 2% for doing nothing, you still do far better with a credit card than with cash of any time. This way you don't get stuck with hundreds of euro when you leave euroland.

chartley

Your best options are:

1. Spend the euro at one of the few places in England (HOHO buses, tourist places) that will accept them, knowing that the exchange rate will not be good.

2. Save them until your next visit to Europe.

3. Exchange them with a friend who wants to buy euro. Perhaps your brother-in-law in Manchester is going to Spain next month. You can work out the best rate between you.

4. Change them at a British Post Office, travel agent, bank, etc. You may not like the exchange rate, but how much is this actually going to cost you?

If you want to save money, stay at home. Travelling always has costs.

J62

I always pay down my hotel bill with whatever euros I have left over before I leave the euro zone,and put the balance on my credit card.

I'll keep about 50 euros for the start of my next trip.

bardo1

Saving them until your next visit to Europe serves you best on two fronts:

1) You don't pay an exchange rate to sell them now.
2) You don't pay an exchange rate to buy them back in the future.

It's your money, however, if you really want to waste it, then go on and sell them now.

bardo1

Plus, having a "down payment" of Euros in hand when you return home will make that "next trip" less expensive - and more likely.

RM67

There are relatively few places that will exchange Euro coins, if you end up with a lot of those - Thomas Cook (travel agents) will still do it.

kerouac

I always keep my extra foreign currency for a future trip. If I were so hard up that I needed to change it to get to the next place, I would not be on the road.