Question for folks in uk

Butterfly

Butterfly

SF VIP
Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico USA
I've been watching all the news about the euro, etc., and I'm a bit confused.

Do you guys in the UK use the pound or the euro for everyday stuff like grocery shopping, etc., or is it just for international stuff? I got the impression that all of the EU was using the euro now, but online I see most things still advertised for pounds, and people talking about pounds, so I wondered which was used for everyday use, what currency people get paid in, etc. If you are using euros, then you have to worry about exchange rate, etc.??

BTW, does anyone know how the pound symbol came about?

Thanks, just curious.
 

The UK does not use the Euro, although there are apparently a few shops near London that will take it. The UK does not want to be on the Euro and prefers to keep the pound.
 
Nine countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland,Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) are EU members but do not use the euro.
 

Our currency is the Pound (sterling) 100 pence (pennies) in a pound...some large department stores in London might take it as Annie says, but we don't have the Euro as currency, but most of Europe does, including Ireland.
At the current exchange rate £1 = $1.56 US dollars...and £1 = 1.43 euros
 
The £ signal represents L..for Libra which was the basic unit of weight in Roman times.. giving it a stroke across the middle and putting it in front of a number represented a monetary value...then shortening Libra to just LB (lb) became the symbol for weights in pounds..
 
hollydolly said:
The £ signal represents L..for Libra which was the basic unit of weight in Roman times.. giving it a stroke across the middle and putting it in front of a number represented a monetary value...then shortening Libra to just LB (lb) became the symbol for weights in pounds..
Click to expand...

I didn't know that. :)
 
Not intending to be disparaging here, please be aware of that! When I travelled to Europe the one time in my life, over 40 years ago, the Pound was considered a very solid and stable currency unit. As I recall, it took over four U.S. dollars to obtain a one-pound note. I realize these "exchange rates" change, but think it has changed drastically.

My impression was, perhaps incorrectly, that the Euro was intended to defuse some of the constant trading of currencies, that being done in attempts to "cash in" (no pun!). Currencies are routinely traded like securities, a faulted thing, IMO. imp
 
Exchange rates have changed drastically everywhere.
i watch the South African rand drop against the pound almost daily....
the euro is falling against the pound too...cheap for us!
 
Being an international port the majority of shops in my town will take the Euro, including independent shops but if change is required it is given in sterling.

I would imagine also with London being a hot spot tourist attraction there would be more than just a few shops accepting Euros.
 
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Pre-decimalisation, we used £.s.d. ( librae, soldi, denarii) or pounds, shillings & pence. The pound is still the same, the shilling is now 5pence (£/20) and one pence = 2.4 old pennies. With inflation, the 1p. coin is now the smallest unit of currency.

The word 'Soldier' derives ultimately from the Solidus in the sense of a Soldier's pay.
 
I was getting 4 marks to the pound in Germany in 1984. Ten years later it had dropped to to only 2.

The Euro is widely accepted in larger stores in Scotland, as are US dollars.

I have never seen an M&S in Scotland that does not take Euros.
 

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