The New Pound Coin – Is London ready?

The New Pound Coin is coming! Is London ready?

Cast your mind back to the March of this year. Do you remember the announcement of a new 12-sided pound coin? The deadline to exchange your old pound is fast approaching. From 15th October the old style pound coins will go out of circulation.

The problem is London is not entirely ready for a complete switch to the new 12 -sider. TfL has stated that 27 of their Overground Oyster card machines do not accept the new coin, with an additional 50 machines not being able to be modified to accept the new coin. Southern Rail announced that not all their machines will accept the new coin in time for the change either.


Many smaller shops or family owned shops have stated that they will continue to accept the old pound coins as they do not want to turn away their local and loyal customers. The Royal Mint estimate that £500 million pounds worth of old coins are still in circulation. Larger chains like Poundland have also declared their own “transition period”. In fact Poundland have said that they will continue to accept the old coin until the end of October.

So, what does this mean for you? If you have loads of old coins at home then fear not! You can still get them exchanged at the Post Office, and at your local bank. If you are lucky, you might find some shops still accepting them, but no guarantees!

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