PEOPLE across the borough are reminded to spend their last remaining paper £5 notes - before they are withdrawn.

The old paper fivers, featuring Elizabeth Fry, will cease to be legal tender after today (Friday May 5) so the Bank of England is encouraging anyone who still has one to spend it as retailers and the public will no longer have to accept them as payment or in change.

The new polymer note, featuring Sir Winston Churchill, will be the only £5 note with legal tender status.

Although some banks and building societies may accept paper £5 notes after May 5 - it will be at their discretion.

Dudley Building Society, which has branches in Brierley Hill, Gornal, Kingswinford, Perton and Dudley town centre, has confirmed it will accept old notes over the coming weeks - from both members and non-members.

Chris Collins, head of operations, said: "The deadline seems to have crept up on a number of people so we wanted to reassure everyone that we will be in a position to exchange old £5 notes for a number of weeks either by a direct swap in branch or by putting those spare fivers in to a savings account.

"We aren’t stipulating that people need a Dudley Building Society account as we are more than happy to offer the service to the wider community."