British £20 banknote due for withdrawal

Monday, April 26th 2010

People in the UK could find they are no longer able to use certain banknotes after the Bank of England announced a withdrawal.

There's now less than ten weeks before the £20 note featuring composer Sir Edward Elgar will no longer have legal tender status.

On June 30th, retailers will be unlikely to accept the note, which is being replaced by the Adam Smith £20.

Bank and building society customers may find they are able to deposit the note into their bank account - and the same applies for the Post Office - but they will not have an obligation to do so for non-customers.

On March 8th the move was announced by the Bank and chief cashier Andrew Bailey, who said: "The Elgar £20 banknotes were first introduced in 1999 and we introduced the Adam Smith £20 banknotes three years ago."

He added the two notes were in joint circulation but the newer design would now be taking over.