As this may effect members here in Thailand I'm posting this heads up.

The £50 banknote featuring a portrait of Sir John Houblon on the back will no longer be accepted as legal tender after Wednesday (30th April).

The Bank of England announced it was withdrawing the note back in January as part of its strategy to combat fraud.

From Thursday 1st May only £50 notes depicting entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and engineer James Watt, which launched in November 2011, will count as legal tender.

Check your cash

Sir John Houblon was appointed as the first Governor of the Bank of England in 1694. The £50 note celebrating him was issued in 1994 to coincide with the Bank of England’s 300th anniversary.

It’s estimated that there are around 63 million £50 notes (worth £3.2 billion) in circulation with Houblon’s portrait on it.

So if you’ve got some cash lying around you could have one or more of the notes about to be axed.

The Bank of England is advising people who find they have a Houblon £50 note to spend, deposit or exchange it before the 30th April deadline.

More details here - Yahoo.com

They should withdraw both versions. I'm getting too old to carry 50 pounds around with me.

Never affected me. I've never earned that much in my life

Worth pointing out that a few of the UK High Street banks (RBS is one) have agreed to accept the old GBP50 notes for a few more months in small quantities for private individuals.

Also the old notes will retain their face value for ever (as do all UK bank notes). http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/pages/about/exchanges.aspx

It's just that they wont be legal tender in shops and you will have to go to the Bank of England to swap them for valid notes. Of course no one will accept the old notes outside the UK either.

Also worth pointing out that if the notes you have are forgeries (and many are, which is the reason they are all being withdrawn) then that's tough doo-dah on you and no one will accept them, including the BoE. Just one more good reason never to have more than a minimal amount in cash.

Time to get the biscuit tin out from under the bed I guess.

Time to get the biscuit tin out from under the bed I guess.

Mmmmm. Biscuits.