Good point from hausfrau about having some small change when you first arrive, but you are unlikely to get coins anywhere outside the UK. Suggest you stop at W H Smith (newsagents) or one of the other airport shops in the arrivals area, and make a small purchase to break one of those £50 notes.

Another option is to find a friend who has been to the U.K. recently and may have brought home some small bills and/or change.

There will be a Bureau d'exchange (or the cambio of weasels) at the airport who will break at least one of the notes. Your hotel can probably sort out the rest.

The only note i am aware of that almost no one in England will touch is the Scottish £20, as there really are an awful lot of forgeries around and most shop staff haven't seen enough genuine ones to tell the difference.

Well, after scrounging around the house I managed to find two £5 notes and a couple of coins. This will have to do until I get to a UK bank, unless I have time to get to the local bank.

Thanks!

Sorry David, I have to disagree - I have *never* had a Scottish note refused in England.

You probably don't move in the circles I do! (and for that, be thankful) It's common to get them knocked back in London - especially in pubs.

Maybe so :-)

The more I think about this the more puzzled I become. In London I usually take out 300 pounds at a time. Don't I get that as something like 5 50's, 2 20's, and a 10? I'm almost certain that Barclays spits out primarily 50's on those larger withdrawals. I mentioned before when I only had a 50 -- it had to have come from an ATM. I just don't recall ever having the 50's being a problem in central London -- and I only use cash for small purchases.
Am I wrong? Aren't 50's very common from ATMs?

I've never had a bullseye out of a ATM. I can't imagine that the bank would load a tray of McGarretts rather than scores.

I must move in the same refined and genteel circles as Caroline because I have never had a Scottish note refused and I've been travelling back and to Scotland for 40 years.
Mind you, I can imagine that a busy barman might have doubts.
I have never had a £50 from a cash machine. It's always 10s and 20s nowadays.

So you're suggesting I normally get 15 -20's out of an ATM in London? That's what would happen at home in the US, but funny, I just don't recall getting such a wad of cash in London. In fact it seems I've always noted having just a few LARGE bills. I could be wrong, but it's impossible to imagine where or why I'd have converted those 20's into a 50.

Things may be different in high traffic areas like the west end populated by people who might want larger withdrawals than usual. We Brits don't usually use these - we normally use the machines in our local high streets.

If my local ATM bunged me two ponies, I'd kick it.

I think that's a good point, but at the same time, I doubt you'd often be asking for 300 pounds either, would you? Maybe those big bills only come out on bigger withdrawals? I usually use the busy ATMs at Barclays on Charing Cross Road, sort of behind the National Gallery.

Not only have I never had a £50 note from an ATM (and I suspect I use ATMs in England's tourist areas more than farce, Miss Prism or any of nthe Americans here), but most ATMs, most of the time, tell you you can't get odd multiples of £50. £200 invariably comes out as 10x20, and you get a choice of £160 or £140 if you want £150.

Indeed, when I once had a slight professional interest in all this, there was no market for ATM-quality £50 notes, at a time when getting enough ATM-quality 20s and 10s was a real issue in the banking industry.

£50 notes live a weird half-life, used semi-legitimately only by us low-level money-launderers, racecourse bookies, post offices paying out welfare benefits and businesses that pay wages in cash. Manual workers and welfare dependents get these notes and hand them straight over to supermarkets or landlords - who them put them straight back into the bank. I imagine (though farce is doubtless the expert on this) they're not even used in the drug trade, since pushers are probably just as leery of them as the rest of us.

£50 notes are used very extensively at the higher levels of drug dealing and other organised crime - it's a matter of transportability (which is why diamonds are also used). The real favourite of your drug lord is the €500 note.

Dealing with small denomination cash is actually a serious logistcal problem for drug dealers (So if you ever wonder why your local tanning salon never seems to run out of change and fivers - now you know)

Appropos drugs. one in 45 British banknotes tests positive for cocaine. I thought you might like to know that.

"£50 notes are used very extensively at the higher levels of drug dealing and other organised crime. . ."


OH, OK, thanks for explaining how I got that 50 pound note! LOL

This is so weird. Because I've also had £50 notes out of ATM machines. In Feb I got two in a w/drawal at LHR, two from an ATM machine in Leicester Sq just across from TKTS and another 1 (or possibly 2 - can't remember for sure) at Henrietta & Southampton just off Covent Garden.

Aha! The penny drops! You might be using the independent ATMs rather than the banks own machines.

No - never have, never will. They were all regular bank ATM's

At 50€ note at least is THE standard banknote, never had a problem. A 500€ note will be more of a problem at smaller stores, but not at supermarkets. Cash rules! :-)