Bank of Englands head of notes division, Victoria Cleland, shows off the design of the new polymer £5 note.
Plastic bank notes are to be issued by the Bank of England for the first time when the new £5 featuring Sir Winston Churchill appears in 2016.
A £10 note featuring Jane Austen to follow around a year later will also be made from polymer rather than the cotton paper currently used.
It follows a three-year research programme that concluded plastic notes stay cleaner for longer, are more difficult to counterfeit and are at least 2.5 times longer-lasting.
A public consultation, including events at shopping centres across the UK, giving people the chance to handle the notes, found 87% of 13,000 individuals who responded were in favour of polymer.
Bank governor Mark Carney said: “Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of bank note design to meet that objective.”
