that they should not make £50 notes as so many places won't take them

[cofingalthetime]

So, I was in Costa, queued for ages - I know, my bad - the particular shopping place I was in, Costa seems to have a monopoly and is the only coffee shop there, apart from one in M&S and I can't stand their coffee... So anyway, queuing up for about 40 minutes, no joke, did my order, gave a 50 and no, they did not accept them. I said it was 'legal tender' but no, so just had to walk away. No biggie. But...it's happened a lot recently, to the point where we went in to get ds some trainers, and I went to the till before we started to ask did they accept £50 notes. As ds said, why make them, if hardly anywhere will accept them...

Is it not that some places are not taking cash any more full stop?

Where did you get them from? They're pretty rare. Cash machines don't give them out. If you withdraw cash from a bank, just ask for smaller denomination notes.

Shops tend not to accept them because there are so many forgeries out there.

It was the same with £20 notes a couple of decades ago when they were "rare" - lots of shops wouldn't take them.

Fifties are seen so infrequently that you don't know if it is a forgery or not. (Same with Scottish notes down here in the West of England.) So some businesses just have a blanket No...

our small independent pharmacy says no because of that, and because it could take nearly the whole till float in change, bad enough if we have 2 customers in a row with £20 notes.

I used to have to do the light test, pen test and tear the note slightly, before considering accepting it.

If I deemed it acceptable, I then had to call for a manager and get a second opinion.

Odd that you would have numerous £50 notes IMO...my GF used to give us the odd one as kids if he'd been paid in cash for a job, but I'm talking over 30 years ago, I haven't seen a £50 note for years! I would also refuse one though as it could wipe out half my float!

Where did you get them?

High value notes are rare in circulation and more likely to be used in crime or tax evasion where large amounts of cash are being moved physically and portability matters. Forged notes are common and people arent used to seeing fifties so aren't confident to spot them.

I'd be amazed if your employer or bank gave you £50s, so where did you get them?

Jesus, who carries cash anymore?!

Cash machines do give them out, I was given several recently as I was paying a friend back for a trip away so withdrew a couple of hundred, all 50s.

So you had £50 notes but no cards with you? That’s pretty unusual.

Yeah I was stuck as I'd forgotten my purse and I had a couple of fifties on me - ex dh gives me cash for maintenance, he gets them out of the bank, usually I pay them into my account - dont ask, he doesn't "do" internet banking or anything other than cash.... Just frustrating. Even M&S wouldn't take one the other day. Anyway, at least Costa didn't get any of my money today. The size of the cakes (teeny) and the price of them... and the price of the coffee is mental really isnt it.

Bonjovispjs

What cash machine lol, were you in a casino 🤣

Dh regularly gets paid in 50s. Prob around every 3 or 4 weeks. Some customers can pay 1k in them.
He just takes them to the bank.
Used to try buy supplies and equipment with them but most wouldn't accept them especially in large sums

he gets them out of the bank, usually I pay them into my account - dont ask, he doesn't "do" internet banking or anything other than cash...

Based on the rest of the sentence I'm willing to bet he doesn't in fact "get them out of the bank". He has probably got a cash paid side hustle not declared for tax, especially given he's got maintenance to pay.

Pay it into the bank and use a card to pay..?

Back in the early 2000s when I had a bar job that paid me in cash, I occasionally got £50 notes and took them straight to the bank because it was harder to spend them

given how many places are now card-only, it would make your life easier to not rely on cash

also, no one needs a Costa coffee so badly that it’s worth queuing for 40 mins! Wtf didn’t you leave after 10 mins, let alone 30

Yanbu OP. I've tried to buy things with a 50 (usually something much higher value than a Costa coffee tbf) and always get the same performance. They just need to go if they're always viewed with suspicion.

The "legal tender" argument is purely that it needs to be accepted in a court of law when settling a debt. Costa (as a private business) could decide that the only method of payment they wanted to take would be pokemon cards and they would be within their rights to do so...

Also...what were you buying in Costa that warranted a £50? If they had to give you £40+ worth of change they may not have even had that in the till (to give you change and cover them for anyone else wanting to pay cash)

YANBU.

In any EU country, nobody bats an eyelid at a €50 note, but here the retail industry goes into panic mode when anyone presents the equivalent £50 note. It’s ridiculous.

ThistastesSalty
Is he a tradesman?

It's a bit weird to take/make payment of £1k or more in cash, no? In this day and age I would honestly assume anyone insisting on paying cash (in fifties...!) for an amount over a grand is likely on the fiddle but that's just me

Yeah, your ExH is not getting those £50s from the bank..! Banks don’t routinely give out £50s unless it’s a pre-ordered large amount
He is giving you dodgy money…

probably best you pay it into the bank and stick with cards

£50 note is allegedly the choice of tax dodgers and criminals, worth making the effort to try and forge. No wonder many places won't take them.

I agree OP they should cease to be produced.

Everything would take bloody ages on dickenson's real deal 😂

I work in a large coop. We take them, we have counter cashes that check if a note is fake. £50 notes go straight in there. I expect other supermarkets will take them too.

Where are these businesses? They'd be very stupid to turn down business like that. I pay in cash everywhere I shop in person.

You're right OP, businesses should either be forced to accept them or they should stop making them.

Yeh yeah yeah, I usually do pay them in the bank - I've tried to explain, I forgot my purse. And yeah I queued in costa as I had promised dc's . Didn't think the queue looked that long, but they are sooooooooooooooo slow. They were only young, but were chatting in the back, messing about, just taking forever making each coffee, it was painful. Only 1 girl was actually "working" to my mind - the others were chatting and laughing and just ignoring the customers. Swear I'm going to bring coffee in a travel cup from now on

No, he gets them out of the cash machine - they are always really shiny and new looking! I've seen him - he goes to the machine, gives me the money, and then usually I pay it into my account... I know, I've said it to him so many times - why cant he just to a transfer online or something, but he won't.