[PR1Berske]

The Bank of England announced on Friday that the new note, replacing one featuring the first governor of the Bank of England, Sir John Houblon, will go into circulation on 2 November. It also pointed out that it will be the first note to feature two men on the reverse

Matthew Boulton.... was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.

James Watt....was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both the Kingdom of Great Britain and the world.

While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, Watt became interested in the technology of steam engines. He realised that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and re-heating the cylinder. Watt introduced a design enhancement, the separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and radically improved the power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of steam engines. He developed the concept of horsepower.[2]

The SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him.

[Oswyntail]

Interesting. Could anyone let me have a few of these, so I can see what they look like in the flesh, please

[wintonian]

I belive you can buy them at you local bank.

[Butts]

Strange how £50 notes have never really taken off since their introduction.

Even today they are still a rarity although they must be worth barely more than a twenty was at the time of their introduction.

In Europe you get 100 and 500 notes and the states has hundred dollar bills both of which are used far more and are also higher value.

Here in Scotland in addition to three fifty pound notes we also have three different Hundred Pound Notes but neither are commonplace.

[wintonian]

Originally Posted by Butts

Strange how £50 notes have never really taken off since their introduction.

Even today they are still a rarity although they must be worth barely more than a twenty was at the time of their introduction.

In Europe you get 100 and 500 notes and the states has hundred dollar bills both of which are used far more and are also higher value.

Here in Scotland in addition to three fifty pound notes we also have three different Hundred Pound Notes but neither are commonplace.

If I go into the bank for example to draw out £200 in order to walk across the road and deposit in my account with another bank, the cashier in the first bank normally looks at me like I have just come from Mars when I say I'll have it all in £50 notes.

[Yew]

Do you get 50's

[XCDriver]

Just lately many shops have notices in saying they do not accept £50 notes. I was under the impression that it was illegal to refuse any coin of the realm. Can anyone confirm that so the next time I am buying a packet of chewing gum I can offer a £50 note with a knowing smirk !!

[starrymarkb]

Originally Posted by XCDriver

Just lately many shops have notices in saying they do not accept £50 notes. I was under the impression that it was illegal to refuse any coin of the realm. Can anyone confirm that so the next time I am buying a packet of chewing gum I can offer a £50 note with a knowing smirk !!

Nope - the only time they are obliged to accept is in settlement of an outstanding debt, they can decline to sell you the chewing gum for any reason they choose. - even then there are limits on the use of coins. In Scotland only £1 and £2 coins are legal tender, however the law requires acceptance of any reasonable payment method.

[XCDriver]

Originally Posted by starrymarkb

Nope - the only time they are obliged to accept is in settlement of an outstanding debt, they can decline to sell you the chewing gum for any reason they choose. - even then there are limits on the use of coins. In Scotland only £1 and £2 coins are legal tender, however the law requires acceptance of any reasonable payment method.

Cheers, I knew about the limits on coinage but thought if you are offering them the means with which to pay then they had to accept it

[Lampshade]

I think the lack of £50 note acceptance is due to them being quite easy to forge; hopefully a new version will have taken this into account, €50 notes are widely used in Europe so there's no reason for £50 notes to be so scarce.

[MattE2010]

Am I correct in thinking that anything that has HM's face officially carved on it must be accepted as currency (i.e. stamps), or have I heard wrong?

[Paul Sidorczuk]

Originally Posted by XCDriver

Just lately many shops have notices in saying they do not accept £50 notes. I was under the impression that it was illegal to refuse any coin of the realm.

There are quite a few shops in Cheshire East with such a notice clearly displayed, but they are all of "the small newsagent" variety. Would these types of shops be targetted by fraudsters with forged notes, as the change in legal tender would be considerable each time a forged note was used.

[causton]

I always find it weird how the test for a real £50 is done - the pink triangle on the front. If the ink comes off the note is genuine! Always wondered what happens if you 'check' it too many times and there's no more to come off...

[PR1Berske]

I suspect this new fifty is a little more advanced than that

[Eagle]

£50 notes galore on campus today. It's the start of term and many of the non-EU overseas students prefer to live off cash rather than their bank account to avoid the huge ATM charges. I totally understand the logic, but when you're trying to buy lunch from Costcutter and three people in front of you pay for four quid's worth of food with a fifty, it gets a little irritating.

I think the lack of £50 note acceptance is due to them being quite easy to forge; hopefully a new version will have taken this into account, €50 notes are widely used in Europe so there's no reason for £50 notes to be so scarce.

This is because the other three BoE notes were replaced 1999–2002, but the £50 wasn't and we're still using the older 1994 version.

If I go into the bank for example to draw out £200 in order to walk across the road and deposit in my account with another bank, the cashier in the first bank normally looks at me like I have just come from Mars when I say I'll have it all in £50 notes.

A few months back I needed to put down a £390 deposit on this house, and the letting agency wouldn't let me wire them it online (as I normally do for large amounts). I don't have a chequebook, they didn't have a card reader, I had to go to the bank to get £390.

So I'm expecting seven 50s and two 20s. No. What I got was fourteen 20s and eleven 10s.