Pound notes

It hardly seems possible, from our perspective today, that pound notes were ubiquitous back in the ’70s and ’80s. Crumpled into pockets or tucked neatly into wallets, they were standard currency, until they were finally replaced by the pound coin in 1988 when they were withdrawn from circulation.

The pound coin, introduced in 1983, felt like it was devaluing the pound note, and although it was less chunky than earlier coins, like the huge 50p, a few of them certainly weighed heavily in one’s pocket.

But in 1979, when Katarin would have been keeping her money safe, the pound note would have been the sort of tender she’d have proffered to her reluctant flatmate.