Scotsman in a London Pub

[cessna152towser]

[Jock Scot]

Whilst I can see the humour of the joke, in three score years and ten---plus a tad---- regularly going to and fro between Scotland and England, I have never once had Scottish currency refused in England, or English currency refused in Scotland.

[O'Callaghan]

I'm not sure if things have changed, but AFAIK whereas in England only the Bank of England issues paper currency, in Scotland there are something of the order of 8 different banks that do so. So, the problem is, how is the average English shopkeeper (or bartender) to know whether some of those are even real banks? Trust me, most don't know. They just cross their fingers and pray that it is real money.

Coins are a bit different, as they are all made by the Royal Mint in London, but have different pictures on for the different UK countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man). So at least there is only one set of Scottish coins.

Some of the more perceptive here may have realised that Scotland already has their own currency, although this does leave the question of whether the exchange rate should remain 1:1 if they were to make certain decisions that we aren't allowed to discuss here.

[cessna152towser]

Perhaps because I live near the border and am more often in England (have been across the Border to Carlisle four times this month), I have actually had Scots money refused twice in England (once at a heritage railway, rather rudely by a shop assistant but I let it go because he was a volunteer and had been getting abuse from someone else about a cancelled train which wasn't his fault) and the other time politely in Yorkshire when my Scots £20 note was refused because the sales assistant didn't know how to check it as genuine with his UV pen but said he would accept smaller denominations.
Not usually a problem and there's even a soft drinks machine at Newcastle Airport which is programmed to accept Scottish banknotes.
On summer weekends I'm often across the border helping out at the Solway Aviation Museum at Carlisle Airport. As visitors often fly in from far and wide we accept ALL Sterling, English, Scottish, Northern Irish, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar etc coins and banknotes.

in Scotland there are something of the order of 8 different banks that do so. So, the problem is, how is the average English shopkeeper (or bartender) to know whether some of those are even real banks? Trust me, most don't know. They just cross their fingers and pray that it is real money.

There are only three Scottish banks which issue notes. Both the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland are affiliated to English banks. There is a smaller bank, the Clydesdale which, outside of Scotland, only has a few branches in the north of England, but even Clydesdale notes are usually accepted.

[The Q]

I'd also add to the fact in the last approximately 50 years of travelling between Scotland and England I've never had a Scottish note refused.

The three Scottish banknote companies

Clydesdale was owned by Midland bank till 1987 now owned by the National Australia Bank who also own Yorkshire bank.

Royal bank of Scotland, was rescued in the British government in 2008 who bought 58% of the bank who were the 5th largest bank in the world at the time. They operated under many different names and divisions round the world. Much of which have been sold off since then.

Bank of Scotland, the second oldest bank in the uk formed in 1695, until 1920 you became Scottish automatically by buying shares in the company, it merged with the English Halifax bank in 2001. And was taken over by the English bank Lloyd's in 2008 in attempt to survive the crash but the joint bank had to be rescued by the British government who bought 43% much has been sold off since.

[neloon]

Coins are a bit different, as they are all made by the Royal Mint in London, ...

Actually, the Royal Mint is in Wales at Llantrisant (=Church/Parish of three saints)
Alan

[John_Carrick]

Northern Ireland banknotes (Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, Northern Bank and First Trust) are even harder to palm off on English traders. They are strictly obliged to accept them since they are legal tender and generally staff in stores know this. In Scotland they are generally accepted with the occasional funny look.
£30 million (or some similar number) of banknotes were stoled once from a bank in Belfast. The Bank simply reissued all its banknotes with a new design. It was known as the biggest theft of waste paper in history.

[ForresterModern]

Returning from Edinburgh through Manchester airport a few years ago I was refused by an airport vendor the purchase of some chocolates with a scottish bank note (Clydesdale I believe, and among the last of my remaining UK currency from the trip) but then had it gratefully accepted across the aisle at the duty free when used for a fine bottle of Glenmorangie. I like scotch whisky more than chocolate anyway so no great loss.