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British town to “mint its own business”

— Photo: AFP

Out of circulation: A file photo of a specimen £5-note. Soon, notes such as this will not be used in Lewes.

Lewes: The East Sussex town of Lewes in England has always been a contradictory sort of place, probably ever since the barons demanded a say in government and defeated Henry III outside the town in 1264.

It was here too that Tom Paine, whose pamphlets fanned the flames of revolution in America, honed his polemical skills at the Headstrong Club in the White Hart during the 1760s. They still burn the Pope and sundry politicians in effigy every bonfire night. And on September 9, just along the high street, the Brewer’s Arms was displaying a sign warning Chancellor Alistair Darling that he was barred.

Now, the town is going one step further along the road to contrariness by issuing its own pound notes, for the first time since the Lewes local bank — long subsumed into the banking giant Barclays — stopped doing it in the 1890s. It is an attempt to boost local spending in the local economy.

Nearly 70 businesses in the town have signed up to accept Lewes pound banknotes, circulating at the same face value as pound coins ($1.77), and to give them out in change to local shoppers. The town is following where Totnes in Devon has already led.

The notes, of course, would not be legal tender anywhere else, though some would probably be kept by visiting tourists as souvenirs. Initially 10,000 have been printed. The scheme’s organisers have guaranteed local shopkeepers that they would not end up out of pocket because of their involvement.

The notes, a soothing green colour, illustrated with Tom Paine’s portrait on one side and Lewes Castle on the other, are printed on watermarked paper provided by a banknote company, with heat-sensitive fibres woven in and serial numbers on each. They are unlikely to be run off cheaply on anyone’s photocopier, and any would-be thief would have to spend them locally or not at all.

Paine might have approved that the scheme was dreamed up by half a dozen local environmental activists, though it has gained the blessing of the town council, with Mayor Michael Chartier on hand to inaugurate the currency at a town hall meeting. Oliver Dudok van Heel, who is one of the organisers, said: “We are not imposing anything on anyone and we have not waited for approval from any local authority or organisationWe may not make an economic impact but we hope to raise awareness and start a conversation about how residents themselves can stimulate the local economy.”

In Cliffe High Street, Bill Collison, who runs Bill’s Greengrocers, was an early convert.

“It’s a great idea for round here — a bit quirky, like bonfire night. We like that in Lewes. I can’t see any downsides to doing it, especially if it brings more people into my shop.” Mr. Van Heel said one local bank manager had expressed interest before his head office put a stop to participation. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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British town to “mint its own business”

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