Old £10 notes will need to be spent before 1 March 2018, when they will no longer be considered legal tender.

The Bank of England (BOE) has announced that the old paper notes, featuring naturalist Charles Darwin, will no longer be accepted in shops and restaurants after this date.

Old £10 notes were replaced by new polymer tenners, featuring author Jane Austen, when they entered circulation in September. However, the old notes can still be exchanged by the BOE after the cut-off date.

Polymer notes are considered to be more durable and cleaner than paper notes and the material is also used in the new £5 notes, featuring Winston Churchill.

The old £10 notes have been in circulation since November 2000 and the end of the paper tenner follows the official withdrawal of the old round £1 coin last month.