Stroud Pound

The Stroud Pound was one of the first wave of British local currencies to emerge from the Transition Towns movement, which began in Totnes in 2006 and spread rapidly through environmentally active communities. Stroud launched its own version in 2009, administered through a cooperative structure rather than a municipal body — a deliberate choice that kept the scheme outside council politics and gave local businesses direct ownership of the system.

Redeemable at par in sterling at participating traders, the notes never functioned as legal tender but circulated on social trust and local loyalty. The watermark is the primary security measure — modest by banking standards but sufficient for a currency whose entire circulation was geographically contained within a small Gloucestershire market town.