Bank of England note issues
The Bank of England, which is now the central bank of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories, has issued banknotes since 1694. In 1921 the Bank of England gained a legal monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales, a process that started with the Bank Charter Act 1844, when the power of other banks to issue notes was restricted. Only the Bank of England can issue banknotes in England and Wales, where its notes are legal tender. They are not legal tender in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but are always accepted there by traders.
Banknotes were originally hand-written; although they were partially printed from 1725 onwards, cashiers still had to sign each note and make them payable to someone. Notes were fully printed from 1855. Since 1970, the Bank of England's notes have featured portraits of British historical figures. The Bank of England now issues notes, all in polymer, in four denominations: £5, £10, £20 and £50. In July 2025, the Bank announced that it is seeking views from the public on what designs should be featured on the next series of notes.
Current banknotes
As of 2025, there are four different denominations of notes: £5, £10, £20 and £50. Each value has its own distinct colour scheme, and the size of the notes increases in length and width as the value increases. They all feature a portrait of Elizabeth II or Charles III on the obverse. The Bank of England introduced its Series G set of banknotes between 2016 and 2021. Following the death of Elizabeth II in 2022, the Bank unveiled new notes, in the same design but featuring Charles III, on 20 December 2022. These notes entered circulation on 5 June 2024.All current Bank of England banknotes are printed under contract by De La Rue at Debden, Essex. They include the printed signature of the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England and depict the British monarch in full view, facing left. They also include the EURion constellation, a pattern of yellow circles which stops copying of banknotes and is easily identified by photocopiers.
On 2 July 2025, The Bank of England launched a month-long consultation, with the possibility to replace historical figures with new features for the next design of Series H banknotes. The reported ideas include British birds, bridges, food, nature, innovation, and key events in history.
The table below shows the notes currently in circulation. Two issue dates are given for each note: the first is for the Elizabeth II issue; the second date is for the Charles III issue.
Withdrawn banknotes
Although Scotland, Northern Ireland and Channel Islands have £100 notes, the Bank of England has not issued them since 1945.History
The Bank of England now has a monopoly of note issue in England and Wales, but this has not always been the case. Until the middle of the 19th century, private banks in Great Britain and Ireland were free to issue their own banknotes, and notes issued by provincial banking companies were commonly in circulation. Over the years, various acts of Parliament were introduced in the United Kingdom to increase confidence in banknotes in circulation by limiting the rights of banks to issue notes.Provincial banknote issues
Attempts to restrict banknote issue by banks other than the Bank of England began in 1708 and 1709, when acts of Parliament were passed which prohibited banking companies of more than six partners or shareholders. Notes under 1 guinea and 5 guineas were prohibited in the 1770s and thereafter almost all the provincial banks were established by the more substantial merchants, landed gentry etc. of a town and district.Gold shortages
Gold shortages in the 18th century, caused by the Seven Years' War and war with Revolutionary France, began to affect the supply of gold bullion reserves, giving rise to the "Restriction period". The Bank of England was unable to pay out gold for its notes, and so under the Bank Restriction Act 1797 began to issue lower denomination £1 and £2 notes in place of gold guineas, that were hoarded as so often was the case in time of war. Confidence in the value of banknotes was rarely affected, except during 1809–11 and 1814–15 under the extreme conditions of war.Restriction of banknote issues
The Country Bankers Act 1826 allowed some joint-stock banks outside London to issue notes, and also allowed the Bank of England to open branches in major provincial cities, enabling better distribution of its notes.Introduction of legal tender
With the passing of the Bank Notes Act 1833, Bank of England notes over £5 in value were first given the status of "legal tender" in England and Wales, effectively guaranteeing the worth of the Bank's notes and ensuring public confidence in the notes in times of crisis or war. The Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954 extended the definition of legal tender to 10/– and £1 notes; unlike the 1833 act, this law also applied to Scotland, meaning that Bank of England notes under £5 were classed as legal tender. Due to inflation the Bank of England 10/– note was withdrawn in 1969 and the £1 was removed from circulation in 1988, leaving a legal curiosity in Scots law whereby there is now no paper legal tender in Scotland.Note-issuing monopoly
The Bank Charter Act 1844 began the process which gave the Bank of England exclusive note-issuing powers in England and Wales. Under the act, no new banks could start issuing notes, and note-issuing banks in England and Wales were barred from expanding their note issue. Gradually, these banks vanished through mergers, closures and take-overs, and their note issues went with them. The last privately issued banknotes in Wales were withdrawn in 1908, on the closure of the last Welsh bank, the North and South Wales Bank. The last private English banknotes were issued in 1921 by Fox, Fowler and Company, a Somerset bank, when it was bought out by Lloyds Bank. Under the terms of the Bank Charter Act 1844, the bank lost the legal right to issue banknotes when it merged with Lloyds, and the Bank of England became the sole note-issuing bank in England and Wales.Note printing
Notes were originally handwritten; although they were partially printed from 1725 onwards, cashiers still had to sign each note and make them payable to someone. Notes were fully printed from 1855. Until 1928 all notes were the monochromatic Series A type, printed in black with a blank reverse. During the 20th century, notes in Series A were issued in denominations between £5 and £1,000, but in the 18th and 19th centuries there were Series A notes for £1 and £2.20th and 21st centuries
The Bank of England's first issue of 10/– and £1 notes in the 20th century was on 22 November 1928 when it took over responsibility for these denominations from the Treasury. The Treasury had issued notes of these denominations at the start of the First World War in 1914 in order to supplant the sovereign and half-sovereign and remove gold coins from circulation. The notes issued by the Bank of England in 1928 were the first coloured banknotes and also the first notes to be printed on both sides.The Second World War saw a reversal in the trend of warfare creating more notes when, in order to combat forgery, higher denomination notes were removed from circulation.
Until her death in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II had appeared on all the notes issued since Series C in 1960. The custom of depicting historical figures on the reverse began in 1970 with Series D, designed by the Bank of England's first permanent artist, Harry Eccleston.
Denominations
Banknotes in various denominations have been issued over time. The denominations are listed in this table, using information from the Bank of England's Withdrawn Banknotes Reference Guide:| Denomination | First issued | Last issued | Notes |
| 10/– | 1928 | 1970 | |
| £1 | 1797 | 1988 | |
| £2 | 1797 | 1821 | £2 notes were issued on the orders of British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger as smaller denomination notes were needed to replace gold coins during the French Revolutionary Wars. |
| £5 | 1793 | Still in circulation | |
| £10 | 1759 | Still in circulation | |
| £15 | 1759 | 1822 | |
| £20 | 1725 | Still in circulation | |
| £25 | 1765 | 1822 | |
| £30 | 1725 | 1852 | |
| £40 | 1725 | 1851 | |
| £50 | 1725 | Still in circulation | |
| £60 | 1725 | Before 1803 | |
| £70 | 1725 | Before 1803 | |
| £80 | 1725 | Before 1803 | |
| £90 | 1725 | Before 1803 | |
| £100 | 1725 | 1943 | Some of the Channel Islands and most of the Scottish and Northern Ireland banks still issue £100 notes. |
| £200 | 1725–45 | 1928 | |
| £300 | 1725–45 | 1855 | |
| £500 | 1725–45 | 1943 | |
| £1,000 | 1725–45 | 1943 |
10/–
The Bank of England's first 10 shilling note, which was issued on 22 November 1928, featured a vignette of Britannia, a feature of the Bank's notes since 1694. The predominant colour was red-brown. Unlike previous notes it, and the contemporaneous £1 note, were not dated but their approximate year of issue can be identified by the signature of the Chief Cashier of the time. In 1940 a metal security thread was introduced, and the colour of the note was changed to mauve for the duration of the Second World War. The original design of the note was replaced by the Series C design on 12 October 1961, when Queen Elizabeth II agreed to allow the use of her portrait on the notes.As part of the planned Series D, which introduced historical figures, a new 10 shilling note featuring Sir Walter Raleigh was planned. This was to be issued as a 50 pence note in anticipation of the decimalisation of Britain's currency in 1971. However, inflation, particularly after the 1967 sterling devaluation, was eroding the note's lifespan in circulation and it was decided to replace it with a 50 pence coin, which was first issued in 1969. The 10 shilling note was withdrawn from circulation on 20 November 1970.