Ask Lemmy

There is no such thing as a "Scottish pound" (unless you refer to the pound Scots, which was the currency of Scotland prior to its union with England). The currency of the United Kingdom is called sterling and the banknotes are all denominated in pounds sterling with currency sign GBP.

All banknotes of the pound sterling are issued by banks. By far the largest issuer of banknotes is the Bank of England, which is the central bank of the United Kingdom. It also happens to be the only banknote issuer in England and Wales.

In Scotland, some private banks are permitted to print their own banknotes. These banknotes are fully redeemable at the banks which issued them for Bank of England notes or for coins. This is what "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of £__" means. Within Scotland, notes issued by Scottish banks are generally regarded to be interchangeable with those issued by the Bank of England. It is always up to the merchant, anywhere in the UK, whether they wish to accept Scottish issued banknotes, or only Bank of England notes, or no banknotes at all (card payments only).

Many larger shops in England will recognise and accept Scottish banknotes. English banks will generally accept them for deposit. Smaller merchants may not recognise them and refuse them. Again, merchants are never legally obligated to sell you anything in exchange for your banknotes, regardless of who issued them.

Yes, in the same way a French Euro has the same value as a German Euro.

and the fact it is “legal currency” but not officially legal tender (even in Scotland itself), it’s weird.

The legal tender argument/debate kinda annoys me as people seem to think it has something to do with legitimacy.

"Legal tender" in England and Wales is money that the English and Welsh courts will accept in payment for debt. So the Courts said we accept money issues by the Bank of England in the follow denominations, etc.

The Scottish Courts said "we'll accept money, or whatever we deem is acceptable to repay a debt we've issued" - so the legal tender definition doesn't even mean anything in Scotland.

Keep in mind, legal tender is really specific, so if you try to dick around and pay a £1000 fine in 2p coins - it will be rejected as that is not legal tender. You can only supply certain coins up to certain amounts.

But anyway, Scottish money, or Northern Irish money is valued exactly the same as BoE issued money.

A shopkeeper being unfamiliar is fine, they should be cautious. But until they do interact with it, they're always going to be unfamiliar.

But, this is most likely to get worse as cash becomes less common anyway.

The six Scottish and Northern Irish issuing banks buy sterling currency from the Bank of England using the largest denomination banknote, the Titan (£100 million). This is the only note printed in-house by the BoE. The issuing banks can then print notes up to the value of the titans held in their BoE account.

This used to be common throughout the UK, but the last English banks gave up their issuing rights in the C20th leaving the monopoly in England & Wales with the BoE. Scotland has a particular interest in having their own notes as they invented banknotes, and while they used English notes after Union, a 19th century poetic revivalist movement (also responsible for kilts and tartan) led to the reintroduction of the Scottish notes.

visiting an english store, in a broad Scottish accent

"IT'S LEGAL TENDER"

A few notes on terminology: Great Britain is a geographic term, not a legal one. Great Britain is an island divided between England, Scotland and Wales which all, along with Northern Ireland, form the United Kingdom. The demonym of United Kingdom, confusingly, is "British". Sometimes "Great Britain" is used to specifically refer to the UK without Northern Ireland, though there are plenty of parts of England, Wales and especially Scotland that are also not on Great Britain.

Anyway, to answer your question: the currency of the entire UK is Pound Sterling, which is the same everywhere: £1 in London is the same as £1 in Edinburgh. Some Banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland have permission from their respective devolved governments to print their own banknotes, but they must be backed by Bank of England notes stored in a vault and, importantly, they are not automatically accepted elsewhere. Some large retailers will accept them, but shops in Northern Ireland, England and Wales are under no legal obligation to accept a Scottish banknote, whereas the Bank of England notes are accepted everywhere.

Also, while the banks that issue notes in Northern Ireland and Scotland are just regular, privately-owned commercial banks, the Bank of England is entirely publicly owned and doesn't offer much in the way of traditional commercial banking services.

Yup. All spends the same

In practice your experience may vary. I went to pay at a Boots with a £20 Scottish note in England once, and the cashier was initially hesitant to accept it. Ultimately she did. That was the only time I tried it.

Not for Scottish 10-year-old me, when I tried to use a Scottish pound note while on holiday seeing relatives in Manchester. I tried to buy an ice cream from the ice cream van and he was super-angry.