The Bank of England will start introducing more durable polymer banknotes in 2016, which should hold up a little better than the tatty cotton notes in circulation now, some of which have been exchanged more than 2,000 times, picking up dirt, Biro scribbles, and a little cocaine along the way.
The £20 note is both the most often exchanged, changing hands an impressive 2,328 times over its 113 month lifespan, and most common note in circulation with nearly 2 billion in people’s wallets and company cash registers at any one time, according to a recent study by On Stride Financial.
As inflation has pushed prices up, the lowly fiver is becoming ever less common, with Reddit users describing it as a rare “British success” to find a cash machine offering the denomination. Less common they may be, but there are still 305 million £5 notes in circulation, which get handed over 258 times during their 23 months in circulation.
The £10 note, that will barely get you two pints in London, is handed over to the bar (or elsewhere) 2,328 times during its 36 months in circulation, with 723 million currently sitting in the public’s purses.
The big red £50 note is handed over 227 times in its 492 month life-span, with 206 million of them getting folded and crumpled up in wallets not designed to fit something quite so big. It’s surprising that they last 41 years!
