Differences Between Notes
It is very rare now to see the old style £20 bank notes in UK. Normally when the Bank of England changed the notes they stayed mostly the same but just had a different picture. However with the level of fraud encountered with the old style notes, the bank radically changed the design of the new style £20 note.
Below are specimen notes produced by the bank. The current note: The current note
As they look significantly different and are very uncommon now, most shops and traders will reject them. You probably will not be able to spend them in larger shops either as staff tend to reject any notes that they are not use to. This includes notes issued by the Bank of Scotland which also look different to the English £20 note.
Exchanging Notes
As well as being able to exchange notes in person at the Bank of England, you can also exchange them by post. Upto £999 pounds can be exchanged without ID and the money can be returned as cash (upto £50), a sterling check or paid into a sterling bank account. Overseas bank accounts are accepted as long as a BIC/SWIFT number and IBAN is provided.
The instructions of how to do this and the address to send the notes to can be found on the Bank of England's website.
Exchanging for an individual via the post
Image References
- Current £20 Note - https://www.flickr.com/photos/bankofengland/25276305065/in/album-72157662787666013/ - www.bankofengland.co.uk - CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0
- Old Elgar Note - http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Documents/withdrawnrefguide.pdf