Support Real Comments On Spanish Town Inspiring Irish Village To Take Old Pounds

May 28, 2012 - PRLog -- Support Real were interested today to hear that an Irish village has taken its lead from a town in Spain whose shops accept pesetas by allowing customers to use the pre-euro currency. In Clones, in Co Monaghan, a village in the Republic of Ireland and close to the Ulster border, shops and restaurants display signs stating that they will take Irish pounds as payment. Petrol station Tony Morgan explains that his son, Ciaran, was the brains behind the move, which now includes 42 retailers in Clones.

Ciaran Morgan told his father about the idea when he heard that around 60 shops and bars in the fishing village of Mugardos (A Coruña) in Galicia had begun to accept pesetas as well as euros. Since Clones' traders began taking their old currency again, Tony says he has already netted 1,000 Irish pounds (about 1,269 euros) in two months.

“It's a great idea,” said our source from Support Real, a Spanish sales and marketing company, “There's a ton of old currency that people have just lying around the house, and this allows them to actually use it.”
Rather like in Mugardos, the publicity generated by the idea has increased trade as visitors come from far and wide – and an added bonus in the case of Clones is that they also accept British pounds, meaning those popping over the border from Northern Ireland do not have to change their currency before spending.

Our source at Support Real said, “It's always pleasing to see people taking the initiative to do something interesting and new in business. This is something that helps both the customers and the businesses, so you can't say much bad about it.”
In 2010, the Irish Central Bank (ICB) changed a total of 1.8 million Irish pounds for euros, at a rate of 0.90 Irish pounds to the euro, and in 2011 a further 313,577 euros' worth of Irish pounds were exchanged. This said, at the end of 2010, the ICB estimated that there were still around 238 million Irish pounds in notes and 125.5 million in coins stuffed into drawers and down the back of sofas in homes throughout the country.