COVID-19 Business Update
Please note, due to the impact of COVID-19, our stores are temporarily closed until after international travel resumes. While our stores are closed, we do not have rates available for foreign cash until we re-open.
Code GBP
Symbol £
Coins
Pence & pounds - 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2
Banknotes
Pounds - £5, £10, £20, £50, £100
Buying British Pounds
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Budget planning tool
Punch in your holiday deets in the tool below to help you plan your spending money.
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No commission
On foreign exchange rates when you order with Travel Money NZ.
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Pick up locally
With over 20 convenient store locations across New Zealand, you can securely pick up your Pounds with no hassles.
Planning your trip to the UK
We get it, doing your holiday budget is a snore fest. It's important though, so we've made it super easy for you to do now. Just punch in your holiday deets and we'll combine destination spend data with our exchange rates so you know how much to take. Easy peasy budget donesy!
About the currency
Where is the GBP used?
The pound sterling is the official United Kingdom currency, used in all four of the countries that form the UK:
- England
- Scotland
- Wales
- Northern Ireland.
Important note: If your holiday includes a detour into the Republic of Ireland, you’ll also need some euros (they won’t accept pounds here, no matter how charming you are).
You’ll also want to exchange your New Zealand dollars to pounds if you’re packing bags for:
- The British Antarctic Territory
- Falkland Islands
- Gibraltar
- Guernsey
- The Isle of Man (not as sexy as it sounds)
- Jersey
- South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (not as edible as they sound)
- Tristan da Cunha.
Facts about the currency
- The pound is the oldest currency in the world that’s still used today. It dates right back to the 8th Century, making it even older than England itself. Fancy that!
- Queen Elizabeth II appears on every Bank of England banknote printed since 1960.
- In 2009, the Royal Mint accidentally released a batch of 20p coins that hadn’t had their year of production marked on them yet. Whoops-a-daisy.
- The UK is one of the few countries in the world where multiple banks are permitted to print and issue banknotes. In most countries, there is only a singular bank that’s allowed to do this (e.g. the Reserve Bank of New Zealand).
- The Bank of England is currently rolling out the replacement of paper banknotes with polymer versions. This began with the release of polymer £5 notes in 2016.
Coins and notes
Forget about dollars and cents. In the UK you’ll be dealing with pounds and pence. (And yes, we know that rhymes.) There are 100 pence (p) in every pound (£), so at least that’s straightforward enough. You’ll most commonly see coins of 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2, and banknotes of £5, £10 and £20. There are a couple of other odd denominations floating around (like a 6p coin and a £25 note), but these are rarer than sunshine in Glasgow.