Where Are Scottish Notes issued in Scotland?

Question

I'm going to scotland in a few weeks and am wondering at what point would you become in possession of them?

1 - Cash Machine issue (do Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland or Clydesdale Bank) only really dispense there own notes at ATMs?

2 - Change received in shops - would any purchase made in some scotland shops, have any note change to be scottish notes?

Answer 1

Cash Machines - Your statement is true, Scottish banks will rarely, if ever, dispense anything other than their own notes from their own ATM's in Scotland. In the rest of the UK the Scottish Banks dispense English notes from their ATM's.

The exceptions are Building Society ATM's in Scotland who will dispense whatever notes they have.



Scottish shops will accept English or Scottish notes and will return either type to you in change.

As a matter of interest the Scottish £1 note is still legal tender in Scotland, so if you happen to receive one in your change, use it before you leave Scotland, it won't be  accepted anywhere else in the UK.  

Answer 2

Wherever you go in Scotland, you will get Scottish notes.

Cash machines, or ATMs, belonging to the Bank of Scotland, the Clydesdale Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland usually only dispense their own notes. (Why advertise the existance of a competitor?)  Other ATMs will dispense a variety of notes, although English notes will be rare. (Indeed, I cannot think of an example in the last twenty years when I got an English note from a Scottish ATM).

Nearly all the banknotes received in shops, restaurants, etc. in Scotland will be Scottish. There will be some English notes, but not many. As you move away from the cities and the tourist areas, the likeliehood of seeing an English note diminishes dramactically. In fact, it is not uncommon for some banks in rural Scotland not to have a single English note in their building!

In some parts of West Scotland, you might even see the odd Northern Ireland banknote, given our proximity to the Province.

Answer 3

Both 1 & 2 are correct.  You'll only get Bank of England notes abroad though.  don't wirry you can use these here, but you'll get Scottish notes in your change.

Answer 4

You'll get them very easily shops banks - everywhere. Hope you enjoy it here!!!  

Answer 5

To the person above, Scottish money IS legal tender in all of Britain. It's really the same just with a different look, i dont really see the point...so they were either mistaken or ripping you off for some reason.

anyway, you get mainly scottish notes everywhere, out of ATMs and banks, but you also get english ones, same as in shops, english are just more rare.

Answer 6

Go to the Royal Bank of Scotland HQ in St. Andrew's Square. They will give you fresh, uncirculated RBS bank notes, including £1 notes if you want. Went there on Saturday.

Lloyds TSB give out Clydesdale bank notes. The other 3, (RBS, HBOS & Clydedale), give out their own bank notes.

Answer 7

You will have no problem spending English notes in Scotland. No one in Scotland bothers about English money. You might get some funny looks using a Northern Irish note but most places will still take it without asking any questions, they're just quite rare here and look very different.

99% of notes you get in Scotland will be Scottish. Shops, ATMs, etc - everywhere. It seems to mainly be bank of England £20 notes we get here but they aren't that common.

In England you will have a hard time spending Scottish money. It is 100% legal tender and really they shouldn't refuse to take it but a lot of places, particularly bars and small shops will not accept it. If you have this problem outside of Scotland any bank in the UK will swap Scottish Notes for English ones and vice versa. Banks will not give you any problems unless the tellers are morons so if you need to get rid of Scottish notes, take them to a bank.

Answer 8

All cash machines issue both Scottish and English banknotes.  They are not necessarily from the bank represented by the cash machine because let's face it, it would take ages to sort through all of them!  

Change received in shops include notes from Scotland and England.  They also dispense pound coins from Scotland, England, Wales, the Isle of Mann and Northern Ireland, although rare.  My husband works in a shop and they always have to look twice at Northern Irish notes, but they accept them.

If you went to England, you would have a harder time trying to convince the shop to take your Scottish notes - but most will still accept them.  However, the pound note is now only issued by Scottish banks and is a rare commodity for England.  You can usually buy Scottish pound notes on ebay for double or triple the price for the novelty value.

I hope this helps - if you have any more questions, let me know!

Also, for further information:

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Scottish Bank Notes

Throughout this note the term Scottish banknote has been used to refer to banknotes printed by Scottish banks under the Bank Charter Act 1844. Currently the only Scottish banks able to print money are the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale bank. However there were more in the past and this briefing is still relevant to these banknotes.

LEGAL TENDER

“The concept of legal tender is often misunderstood. Contrary to popular opinion, legal tender is not a means of payment that must be accepted by the parties to a transaction, but rather a legally defined means of payment that should not be refused by a creditor in satisfaction of a debt. This makes legal tender a rather narrow legal concept that has little to do with the way in which most payments are made. In practice, people are often willing to accept payment by cheque, standing order, debit or credit card – in fact by any instrument that they are confident will deliver value.”(Bank of England, March 2003)

Under this narrow legal definition Scottish banknotes have never, even in Scotland, except for two very short periods during the two World Wars, been legal tender. Bank of England banknotes are also not legal tender in Scotland under this definition. Only coins from the Royal Mint are legal tender in Scotland and even these are subject to limitations, e.g. £1 worth of 1pcoins is legal tender but £1.01 is not. £1 and £2 coins are legal tender in Scotland to unlimited amounts.

However, this does not detract from the value of Scottish banknotes as money. They carry a promise to pay which means that, should a note be presented at the headquarters of the issuing bank, the bank promises to exchange it for an equal amount of legal tender, hence cancelling the debt. This is backed up by the holdings of the issuing bank, which cannot issue more banknotes than it has holdings to cover. In the case of Scottish banks these holdings are expressed mostly in terms of Bank of England banknotes. These Bank of England banknotes are, in turn, backed by the holdings of the Bank of England. In the past these would have beenin gold bullion but with the withdrawal of Britain from the Gold Standard in 1931 these are now expressed purely in terms of financial securities. Financial securities are stocks, shares, bondsand other financial market instruments that have a monetary value but are not expressly cash holdings.

Excerpt from 'The Legal Basis of Scottish Banknotes' by James Hayes

Answer 9

Hallawayii is correct but if you leave Scotland make sure you get Scottish money turned into British money. I was in Scotland last year and my bank at home told me that they will NOT accept Scottish money as its not legal tender outside of Scotland but would exchange what I had left in British money to Canadian. I did & had no problems with the exchange. So keep that in mind if you have Scottish money that needs to be turned back into your own currency.

Answer 10

Most points covered but in Scotland in retail stores , shops and post offices  the vast majority of notes in circulaion are from the three Scootish issuing banks - The Royal Bank of Scotland , the Clydesdale Bank and The Bank of Scotland . Cash dispensers issue a variety of notes . The Royal Bank still issues £1 notes !