Even though the United Kingdom has not yet decided on whether to join monetary union, the Bank of England has already produced some euro banknotes at its Essex print works. This was part of a trial organised by the European Central Bank to ensure that factors such as ink colour are identical throughout Europe.

The Bank of England has refused to disclose how many euro notes it has printed, but a figure of nine million was reported.

These limited print runs resulted in fevered press speculation that Britain was looking for an early entry into the euro, but the government has scotched the rumours by insisting the notes were for use abroad.