UK Currency : An Overview

At the end of the barter system of exchange, several objects were used as medium of exchange, such as gold, cowries, shells, precious metals etc. Today, the use of these has been discontinued and paper money introduced. Every country in the world today has their own currency. In UK, it is the almighty British Pound, also known by the following names: GBP, Pound Sterling, British Pound, UK Sterling; and by some less popular names as quid and nicker. It has the symbol “£”. Pound is called the almighty here, because compared to its peers, it has relatively the highest exchange value. Today £1 is has the same value with €1.1785, US$1.5473. ¥129.87, CAD$1.5741, and AUD$1.5533.


The history of UK Pound spans a long period, but the most relevant is the decimalization in 1971. This made it possible for calculations involving the Pound to be much easier. Decimalization which mathematically means counting in tens, changed a British Pound from 240 pence to a Pound (240p = £1) to 100 pence to a Pound (100p = £1). Most writers ignore the Penny when referring to UK currency, this is obviously wrong, for the Penny is as important as the Pound. The existence of the Penny makes the UK currency to have one of the qualities of a good currency: the ability to be divided into smaller denominations.

As with most currencies, the UK currency has its own notes and coins. The coins mainly make up the smaller denominations, while the notes take up the higher ones. The coins are: 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p; £1 and £2 are also in coin denomination. The note denominations are £5, £10, £20 and £50.


First time visitors to the UK might be confused to find that other currencies exist apart from the UK Pound. This is because both the Bank of Scotland and Northern Ireland also issue their own currencies which happen to be legal tender within their jurisdictions, and even the entire UK. Be careful while accepting these, for Taxi drivers may not hurriedly take them currency off your hands,

While most of Europe has dumped their national currency for the Euro, UK still tenaciously clings to the Pound, although pressures have been mounted for the introduction of the Euro in UK, but the government and people are yet to pay any attention to this, preferring to continue with good old Pound, and recent events have proved, this might be the best decision.