British Pound/NI Pound? help please
 

Hi--hopefully someone can clear this up for me--the British pound which I purchased today can be used in Northern Ireland..yes? But the NI pound can not be used outside of NI without perhaps a bit of hassle?
also--last summer I exchanged some money before I left for England and when I arrived I was told they no longer accept the notes I had. Is there a specific date on the note that would tell me its not used anymore? Sorry for my questions..i am leaving in a few days and my brain is starting to switch into high drive. scary. : ) Thank you.
Sarah

Even though items such as Scottish, Jersey and Guernsey notes are legal tender in the rest of the UK, you will be unlikely to be allowed to spend them. They can, however, be exchanged in banks free.
The pound coin, though, is useable throught the UK without hassle.
Notes are being changed all the time by the Royal Mint in Llantrisant to stop fraud. For instance, the Charles Dickens £10 is about to stop being legal tender as it has been replaced by the Charles Darwin one (more hairs on the beard apparently - to make it harder to forge). There is no date provided on the note just TV and newspaper ads (which will not help you).
Unless you have a really old note, all banks will still exchange them for legal ones.

I had no problems with Northern Ireland notes in Manchester or London during last few visits. One street vendor questioned it for about 5 seconds, because he thought they were Irish punts, but as soon as he saw Sterling on the note he gladly took my 20 and gave me some change. I would not worry too much about NI notes.
Have a great trip!

Sorry to disagree with AAFrequentFlyer, but I have witnessed some major arguments when shops refuse notes they don't easily recognise - and as a Brit I can speak with some authority.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say, and if offered a Scottish note (for example) in my change, I would refuse it myself as I know how difficult they are to get rid of.

Coming from Northern Ireland myself, when travelling to England I always use the ATM at the airport to get English notes. It just makes things easier. N.Ireland notes can be exchanged free of charge at the bank. Hopes this helps, enjoy your trip Ice

thank you everyone for all of your help.

I was in Scotland two weeks ago and returned to London with Scottish bank notes. They were accepted with no problem in the local pub (even by the Ukrainian barmaid), the local newsagents and in Sainsbury's supermarket. At least one of the Scottish banks still issues pound notes, and I suspect these might be difficult to change in England, because English pound notes are no longer valid, but Scottish (or Northern Irish) notes for £5, £10 and £20 should cause no problem.

The quizzical among you might want to know how all this comes about.

Issuing banknotes in England, as almost everywhere else in the world, is a government monopoly. This is not the case in Scotland, Northern Ireland or, at any rate last time I was there, Hong Kong: issuing banknotes is a highly lucrative sideline for commercial banks (as it was in many parts of the world in the 19th century). After all, Adam Smith, who really invented the theory of capitalism was a Scot, and N Ireland and HK are still really Scottish colonies.

But processing Scottish/N Irish notes is a real pain for English traders, and for English banks. So deep in the small print of traders' agreements with their banks for cash handling is an extra charge for Scottish/N Irish notes.

Traders, in other words, are being charged for the cost English banks incur to help their Scottish and N Irish divisions make even more money.

Anyone surprised?

If in doubt any major Bank will change your out of date notes. Beware of forgeries....

Last month I took some 10-year-old UK currency, including one pound Scottish notes, with me to use for shopping at Heathrow and for duty free items onboard our BA flights. The one pound notes were accepted, but I was told that English one pound notes had been discontinued and replaced by a coin.

Apparently it depends on who you are dealing with whether or not the money will be accepted. As I said, I had no problem with several purchases, both in the airport and on our flights.

The English £1 note ceased to be legal tender in March of 1988.The £1 coin was introduced around 1983/4.Take your £1 notes to charing cross road and sell them.