Lewes Pound

Transition Town Lewes launched its local currency in September 2008 — not 2009 — with the explicit goal of keeping spending within the town's economy and reducing dependence on distant supply chains, a core principle of the Transition Network movement founded in Totnes. The 2009 date likely marks a reissue or updated print run, as the initial series was printed on polymer substrate with holographic security features, an unusually sophisticated specification for a community currency of this scale.

Accepted by a network of local businesses at face value against sterling, the Lewes Pound was one of the earliest British local currencies to adopt polymer — the same base material used in the post-2016 Bank of England notes, though here sourced and printed domestically years prior.