|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*****
British Money
Where to exchange currency and exchange rates (Coming
soon, so look for it here.)
British currency:
The British currency has two units - the pound and the penny.
100 pennies make £1.
Currency paper notes are £5, £10, and £50.
The different notes are quite similar in size and
appearance, so be careful!
£50 notes are not common, and many shops will not accept them, because of the danger of forgeries.
Coins are:
£1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and 1p.
In Scotland, £1 notes are still in use.
Please note that Scotland also issue their own Bank notes. British
and Scottish notes and coins are interchangable but you might find
some reluctance in the South of England to accept Scottish notes.
Channel Islands and Isle of Man have some different coins from the
mainland. You can spend British currency there, but you cannot use
Channel Islands and Isle of Man currency in the rest of Britain.
The Republic of Ireland has coins and notes of similar sizes to
Britain. They are a different exchange rate to the UK pound. You
cannot use British money in the Republic of Ireland, or Irish money
in Britain.
In conversation and shops, people often do not say 'pounds'.
Something which costs £12.50 would usually be described
as"twelve fifty". For things which cost less than one
pound, people may say pence", but often they say "pee",
meaning "p". For instance, "That is ninety-nine pee".
This goes back to the time in 1971 when decimal currency
started. Before that time, there were 240 old pennies to the pound.
At the time of change, to avoid confusion, people called the new
pennies "new pee" or "pee".
The larger coins will often be called, for example, "a
fifty pee", or a "fifty pee piece".
