Exchanging Old Bank Notes

[Cruisen Elf]

We are travelling to the UK later this year, and need to exchange some old 20 pound notes from our pre-pandemic travels.  We arrive at Heathrow Airport, and plan to go directly to Southampton via National Express.  I could not find a Post Office in Southampton that exchanged currency, and as far as I can tell the only Bank of England branch is in London.  Any suggestions where we could exchange this currency at Heathrow or Southampton?

[Blazza]

I’m sure you’ve used this website https://www.postoffice.co.uk/banknote-exchange which appears to show the closest Post Office to Southampton that will carry out the exchange is in Portsmouth.

 

I faced the same issue and ended up making a diversion into central London as that was the only option that broadly suited my plans and didn’t cost more than the amount I was exchanging. The process at the Post Office I used was seamless and there were other people in at the same time doing the same thing. You will need your passport and the maximum you can exchange per person GBP300.

 

There is also a process detailed on the The Bank of England website for exchanging the notes via mail - although it seems quite involved (and was why I decided to divert into London). 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Blazza
Additional info

[MeHeartCruising]

If you are donation-minded, you may find a couple bins that collect your spare/excess currency in the Heathrow waiting area when you are flying back home.  I forget who they benefit, but it was some needy organization.  I had a few old bills that I could not convince any of the places I purchased from to take. I dropped my excess bills in that donation bin.  I figured the organization would have a way to get new money from them.