Hi all, I have a bag with a bunch of old thick 1 pound coins (dated between 1983-2012). I’ll be visiting London for 5 days next week and would like to exchange/spend them somehow. From what I read, the only way to do that is by depositing them to a bank account at the post office or at a commercial bank branch. However, I do not have a UK bank account. I do have Revolut, which has (among other accounts) an account in British Pounds (the one with 8-digit account number + sort code), but the statement shows that IBAN is registered in Lithuania. Would I be able to deposit to this account in a post office or at a bank? Or is there some other way to exchange the old coins? I would like to figure this out before leaving, so I know if I should take the coins along or leave them at home. Thanks in advance!
4 comments
Most high street banks are flexible and will exchange them for you without having to deposit them.
They may want you to be a customer, but if you explain the situation then they probably won’t have any issue.
Online, I found that you can go to :
The Bank of England counter at Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH is usually open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday.
(double check before going, as this was just a google search)
Bear in mind the reason the coin design changed was that there was massive forgery, they reckoned about one in thirty were fake by the time they switched.
I assume this makes anyone without the means to spot fakes very reluctant to take them as they are likely to lose money.
You could always use them in the cinema toilet condom and TicTac machine featured on r/casual today.