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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Alice Irving & Sophie McCoid

New £20 note is released tomorrow: here's how to exchange your old notes

The new Bank of England £20 will be released on Thursday, after first being unveiled in October last year.

The note will be made of the flexible plastic material polymer and will be smaller than the current note, measuring 139mm x 73mm.

As well as a portrait of The Queen, the Bank of England will also pay tribute to English Romantic painter JMW Turner, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Could your £20 note be worth a fortune?

Turner was announced as the face of the note in April 2016.

His self-portrait - which was painted circa 1799 and is currently on display at Tate Britain - will be featured on one side.

And behind his image will be a print one of his most famous paintings The Fighting Temeraire - a tribute to the ship HMS Temeraire.

£20 note featuring the artist JMW Turner which will be issued for the first time in February 2020 (PA)

The words "Light is therefore colour" will be positioned over the bottom right corner of his portrait underneath his signature.

This quote is from a lecture he gave in 1818 commenting on his artistic use of light, shade, colour and tone.

The new note will also feature a round, purple foil patch containing the letter "T", see-through windows and hologram transitioning between "Twenty" and "Pounds" when titled.

There will also be three clusters of raised dots to help blind and partially-sighted people identify the note's value as well as raised print on the words "Bank of England".

And under ultra-violet light, the number "20" will appear in bright red and green.

What to do with your old notes

You will still be able to use old £20 notes until the Bank of England announces an official withdrawal date.

The date will be issued following the release of the new £20 note and there will be a six-month notice period before the old note gets withdrawn.

Many banks will still accept withdrawn notes as deposits.

The Post Office may also accept withdrawn notes a deposit into any bank account you can access via The Post Office.

But the simplest and quickest way to exchange old notes is to deposit them with your bank.

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