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The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

theguardian.com

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Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#41

Post by learnstats2 »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #29
k-mcgrady wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure this is completely incorrect. It's sterling just with a slightly different note design including the issuing bank name. It's accepted anywhere sterling is accepted - the only issue I've ever had is that English businesses may not have seen it before and are worried it's fake. Never had any refuse to accept it though.

I've had Scottish bank notes refused by a taxi driver in London, and he had a letter from the Bank of England claiming he didn't have to take it (a fact that Wikipedia backs up). Though what he gains from antagonising customers I'm not sure.

If the taxi driver doesn't want to accept Scottish bank notes, he doesn't have to. He is not obliged to accept any form of currency, in truth.

Since (presumably) the journey is over, he can insist that I pay my debt in legal tender - but not on the spot: legal tender is for when it reaches court. So, I would tell him that he can take my Scottish money or invoice me.

Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#42

Post by iaskwhy »

jstanley wrote: post #15

I live in Bristol and had never heard of the Bristol Pound until this article. It's hardly giving sterling a run for its money.

As a counterpoint, I live in London and knew about the Bristol Pound. But I also know people who use the Brixton Pound.

Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#43

Post by [deleted] »

tow21 wrote: post #39
aries1980 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The currency does not change the law. E.g. if you pay with EUR or USD you still have to pay the appropriate taxes in the format the govn't expects (in sterling). The alternative currencies are no exception.

I agree. But if money is going through normal channels and normal currencies, then it's recorded & HMRC can audit it. If it's going through back-channels, alternative currencies & bitcoins, it's still taxable, but HMRC can't see it so there's a huge temptation to not pay tax. There's a reason your plumber offers you a discount for cash-in-hand :-) if it doesn't go through his books he's not going to pay tax on it. Th…

[deleted]

Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#45

Post by dyadic »

adnam wrote: post #44
jstanley wrote: post #15

I live in Bristol and had never heard of the Bristol Pound until this article. It's hardly giving sterling a run for its money.

On your website it says you are based in Bath.

I don't think that invalidates anything, Bristol and Bath are very close to each other.

Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#46

Post by chriswarbo »

toyg wrote: post #30
k-mcgrady wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure this is completely incorrect. It's sterling just with a slightly different note design including the issuing bank name. It's accepted anywhere sterling is accepted - the only issue I've ever had is that English businesses may not have seen it before and are worried it's fake. Never had any refuse to accept it though.

It's the same with Scottish money, except English people tend to openly despise it and will often refuse it even when they're perfectly aware that it's legal tender. They're historical accidents tbh.

> English people tend to openly despise it and will often refuse it even when they're perfectly aware that it's legal tender.

Group A don't know it's legal tender, so they refuse to accept them.

Group B do know it's legal tender, but also know that group A is quite large. Hence some members (group BA) avoid the currency because they know it will make transactions with group A more difficult.

The remaining people, group BB, also know that group BA will try to avoid the currency. Some of those (group BBA) will avoid the currency because it makes transactions with group BA more difficult.

And so on.

Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#48

Post by chriswarbo »

pjc50 wrote: post #6
izolate wrote: post #5

Not sure I understand how this works. In what way is it different or more beneficial to Sterling if it's on parity?

It's a sort of voluntary capital control. It's convertible in only one direction and you can't spend it outside of Bristol. The effect is to encourage local circulation of money rather than letting profit escape Bristol. (I suspect, like a lot of local currency schemes, people also end up benefiting from tax evasion, although I've no evidence on that)

> I suspect, like a lot of local currency schemes, people also end up benefiting from tax evasion, although I've no evidence on that

Would Bristol Pound notes make tax avoidance easier than regular Sterling notes?

I wouldn't want to speculate on the electronic version; tax avoidance would be quite low on my priority list, compared to eg. outright fraud, accounts being hacked, insurance guarantees, etc.

Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#49

Post by k-mcgrady »

toyg wrote: post #30
k-mcgrady wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure this is completely incorrect. It's sterling just with a slightly different note design including the issuing bank name. It's accepted anywhere sterling is accepted - the only issue I've ever had is that English businesses may not have seen it before and are worried it's fake. Never had any refuse to accept it though.

It's the same with Scottish money, except English people tend to openly despise it and will often refuse it even when they're perfectly aware that it's legal tender. They're historical accidents tbh.

In my experience it tends to be worse with Scottish money as it looks less like BOE notes than NI notes do.

Re: The Bristol pound is giving sterling a run for its money

#50

Post by coroxout »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #49
toyg wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same with Scottish money, except English people tend to openly despise it and will often refuse it even when they're perfectly aware that it's legal tender. They're historical accidents tbh.

In my experience it tends to be worse with Scottish money as it looks less like BOE notes than NI notes do.

I've found that most English people have at least heard of Scottish notes but don't realise Northern Ireland also has its own notes, in several different designs issued by different banks, and so are even less likely to accept an NI note than a Scottish one. Whenever I go over I try to spend all my NI notes before I come home.

I don't think the way Northern Bank notes now say Danske Bank on them instead is going to help me convince shops around here (non-London England) to take them either...

Last time I was in Belfast I got an Isle of Man fiver in my change - I don't fancy my chances of spending it here but I'd never seen one before so I'm just going to keep it for novelty value.

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