Shoppers have until Thursday, March 1, to spend their Charles Darwin £10 notes

Shoppers have until the end of Thursday to spend their paper Charles Darwin £10 banknotes.
The old tenners, above, and the new note, below.The old tenners, above, and the new note, below.
The old tenners, above, and the new note, below.

After Thursday, the new note featuring Jane Austen will be the only Bank of England £10 note with legal tender status.

The Bank of England previously announced that it would withdraw legal tender status of the Darwin banknote, which was first issued nearly 18 years ago in November 2000, at 11.59pm on March 1.

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Some banks and building societies may still accept paper £10 notes after March 1, but this is at their own discretion.

The Bank of England will continue to exchange Darwin £10 notes for all time, as it would for any other Bank of England note which no longer has legal tender status.

Last week, the Bank said over 200 million paper £10 notes were still left in circulation.

Major banks have said they will continue to accept deposits of the old paper tenner from their own customers after March 1.

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People can also take their old £10 notes to the Post Office, which is also still accepting account deposits of the old "round pounds" and old paper Bank of England fivers.

Martin Kearsley, banking services director at the Post Office, which has 11,600 branches across the UK, has said: "Thanks to an agreement with all UK high street banks, everyone can deposit cash and cheques, including any old notes, into their usual high street bank account at their local Post Office branch."

RBS/NatWest has said it will continue to accept old £10 notes from its own customers after March 1.

Santander also said it will allow customers to deposit old £10 notes into their accounts after March 1, as did Barclays, Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Nationwide Building Society.

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The withdrawal of the old paper tenner means that the Bank of England's legal tender £10 notes, as well as its £5 notes, are made from polymer, while its current £20 and £50 notes are paper.

The Bank's next £20 note, to be issued in 2020, will be made from polymer.