Vanishing fifty pound notes?

[Lootman]

Does anyone know if it is official (or perhaps unofficial) government policy to decrease the number of £50 notes? I understand that it is already near impossible to get a 500 Euro note or 1,000 Swiss Franc note in the UK, because of money laundering concerns. Fair enough. But a lousy £50?

I ask because I always withdraw 50's when I go to the bank. Partly because when I go, I usually take out a lot, and they are less bulky. Partly because 50 is the new 20 (you can't even buy a round of drinks for 4 in London for under £20). And partly because I prefer human service to cash machine service.

But my Bank is making it harder and harder for me. They used to have a bunch of 50's at every teller station. But now they are all kept in the back somewhere and it's a major rigmarole to bring them out for me. In fact the teller initially says "We don't have any 50's". Whereupon I incredulously reply "You're a bank and you don't have any fifties? Is that what you are telling me?" Whereupon they appear, after a suitable and probably deliberate delay.

This has happened to me enough times now (and just today, obviously) to be beyond a coincidence, I surmise. So is this all a cunning plan by our overseers? Do they maybe want us off cash altogether (over my dead body).

Anyone know?

[Alaric]

Does anyone know if it is official (or perhaps unofficial) government policy to decrease the number of £50 notes?

That contrasts with Western Europe where € 50 notes are regularly dispensed by cash machines. Personally I found them a nuisance and much preferred it when a cash machine handed out 10s and 20s.

[AleisterCrowley]

I rarely see the dashed things - although the bloke in front of me in Sainsbury's last night paid with one. The checkout guy did all the stuff with UV inspection lamp etc (zzzz) They do make people suspicious, and some places refuse them.
Perhaps with inflation they'll start producing more (new plastic ones?) and introduce a £5 coin...

As pointed out upthread, if you buy a round in London you can easily bust a £20. Six people is going to be north of £30, so no contactless either.

[Slarti]

According to the Bank of England a new £50 will be coming in the summer https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknot ... ominations so perhaps there is a shortage of the old ones in usable condition?

Also, can I be the only one who's never even seen a £50?

Slarti

[PinkDalek]

Does anyone know if it is official (or perhaps unofficial) government policy to decrease the number of £50 notes?

I don't know but believe they are popular with drug dealers and, ermm, cash businesses. They are/were also popular items for counterfeiters to copy, obviously.

The Bank of England suggests there are still some 344,000,000 in circulation but where they are is a different matter. The table of Value of banknotes issued (£ millions) does suggest fewer have been issued in the last couple of years. I've no idea what was special about 2016/17 but haven't read the entirety. Was there a more up to date version issued then?

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/banknote

[SalvorHardin]

The only places where I regularly use £50 notes nowadays is at the racecourse and off-course bookmakers. Bookies use them routinely, as do higher rolling punters, though many smaller punters turn their noses up at them and instead ask to be paid in £20s and £10s.

The last time I tried to use one in a shop I got a funny look and they refused to take it. It's no surprise though; many people have never seen, let alone used, a £50 note because cash machines don't dispense them (except for a few in central London).

From experience I know that £50s are popular amongst farmers, used car dealers and the antiques trade.

The Economist did an article on £50 notes last year, not one of their better ones as they claimed that except for criminals only foreign tourists ever use £50s.

https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/ ... -ps50-note

[redsturgeon]

Casinos have a large supply and usually pay out in 50s.

John

[Rhyd6]

No Slarti, you're not the only one whose never seen a £50 note. At our quiz on a Friday night OH and I play with four other friends, we often win and the prize is £20 which buys a round for the six of us. One of the advantages of living out in the sticks.

R6

[AleisterCrowley]

I've seen them (last night, as mentioned above) but it's not often.
Don't think I've ever used one - if I had one, I'd get it changed down to smaller denominations asap

[Lootman]

I've seen them (last night, as mentioned above) but it's not often. Don't think I've ever used one - if I had one, I'd get it changed down to smaller denominations asap

It's really not a big deal. Suppose you buy a round and it's 23.60. You hand over a 50 note and 3.60 in change. They give you back a 20 and a 10.

I manage to fritter them all away somehow.

[Dod101]

In Scotland we still have £100 notes which I have on occasion handed out to the grandchildren at Christmas. Nowadays they would rather I think have the loot transferred via their phones to their bank accounts.

£100 in cash usually lasts me for about two weeks. Nearly all my expenses are either direct debits or paid by debit card. Big expenses go on my credit card for the cash back.

Dod

[AleisterCrowley]

I've seen them (last night, as mentioned above) but it's not often. Don't think I've ever used one - if I had one, I'd get it changed down to smaller denominations asap

It's really not a big deal. Suppose you buy a round and it's 23.60. You hand over a 50 note and 3.60 in change. They give you back a 20 and a 10.

I manage to fritter them all away somehow.

BUT ..Some places treat them with suspicion, I'd rather have a wodge of twenties

[Stonge]

I have never in my life seen a £50 note. Didn't know they existed.

[baldchap]

All countries are reducing large denominations.
Supposedly to prevent crime and terrorism.
A cynic may say it is about the pursuit of a cashless society, and ultimately controlling the little man. Much easier when you can freeze all assets digitally.

[swill453]

I'd prefer if I could use exclusively £5 notes. A wad of fivers feels like a lot of money. And it means you can never be given a counterfeit note in change.

Scott.

[Dod101]

I'd prefer if I could use exclusively £5 notes. A wad of fivers feels like a lot of money. And it means you can never be given a counterfeit note in change.

Funny that. I have about £200 in fivers. I rather like them. In Scotland we can have English, RBS and B of S notes as well as the Irish ones so it makes a nice portfolio. Mind you. I like any notes or combination thereof.

Dod

[Sobraon]

Cash machines in Barclays central Sheffield 'dispense' £50 notes and I think this started sometime in 2018.

[swill453]

I'd prefer if I could use exclusively £5 notes. A wad of fivers feels like a lot of money. And it means you can never be given a counterfeit note in change.

Funny that. I have about £200 in fivers. I rather like them. In Scotland we can have English, RBS and B of S notes as well as the Irish ones so it makes a nice portfolio. Mind you. I like any notes or combination thereof.

Don't forget the Clydesdale Bank ones as well.

However even as a Scot living in Scotland I wish we didn't have all this funny money. It doesn't feel real unless it's a proper Bank of England note.

Scott.

[tjh290633]

I had an uncle who would only ever get 10/- notes from the bank. He said it saved all the arguments about whether it had been a £1 note or ten Bob when the change was dished out.

Today he would have been a devotee of the fiver.

TJH

[jfgw]

According to the Bank of England a new £50 will be coming in the summer https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknot ... ominations so perhaps there is a shortage of the old ones in usable condition?
Slarti

You mean that Matthew Boulton and James Watt, the creators of those marvellous old beam engines, will no longer be celebrated on our British currency?

Julian F. G. W.