What’s the Best Bureau de Change in London? Monito’s Comparison

If you’re travelling to the United Kingdom, it’s important to convert your local currency into British pounds so you’ll have spending money when you’re there. We know that exchanging your currency probably isn’t at the forefront of your mind when you’re planning a trip to London, so if you don’t exchange your cash before you go, there is another option—the bureau de change.  

Bureaux de changes are booths, shop fronts and other physical locations in London where you can exchange your money for a different currency. Although they’re very convenient, you’ll often pay more for converting your money, compared to other means—sometimes a lot more. You could pay up to an additional 10% on the amount you’re converting. 

This can be due to fixed fees, poor exchange rates or a commission charged by the bureau de change provider. That’s why we always recommend exchanging money before you travel or getting a travel debit card, as you could save yourself a lot compared to exchanging money when you’re in London.

Don’t worry, we’ll get to the best bureaux de change in London shortly, but first, it’s worth looking into how they charge for providing currency exchange services.

“Commission Free” Bureau de Change

You’ll often see a Bureau de Change marketing itself as “commission-free.” This means they don’t add a separate percentage fee on top of the exchange rate they quote. Although they are technically not adding on a percentage fee, this claim can be misleading—you’ll still pay more than you need to due to the way exchange rates work.

Exchange Rate Margins Offered by London Bureaux de Change, Explained

To explain how bureaux de changes make their money, you need to know a couple of things about exchange rates—but we’ll keep this quick and simple. Here are the basics.

The exchange rate is how much of a currency you’ll get when you exchange it with another currency. For example, the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and British pounds might be 0.81, meaning you’ll get £0.81 for each $1 you convert, so if you convert $1,000, you’ll get £810.

The midpoint or “interbank” exchange rate is the base exchange rate and is the best exchange rate you can get when converting from one currency into another. In our example above, the exchange rate of 0.81 is the base rate.

Bureaux de changes typically make money by offering you a worse exchange rate than the base rate and keeping the difference. For example, a bureau de change may offer an exchange rate of 0.78 between dollars and pounds, so for every dollar, you get £0.78, so if you convert $1,000, you’ll get £780. These rates are shown on currency exchange tables, which will be shown at every bureau de change. 

That difference, between the base rate and the rate offered by a bureau de change, is known as the “margin,” and the £30 less that you get is how they make their money. How else could they afford the rent in some of the most prestigious areas in London? 

We’ll be sharing the actual rates you’ll get from London bureaux de change below, so you can make an informed choice on where to convert your cash. 

Here’s a handy video on how a bureau de change in Prague makes its money.

Reading Currency Exchange Tables, Buy and Sell

Many currency exchange providers will quote both “buy” and “sell” rates for exchanging currency. The “sell” rate is applied when you convert your original currency into the new currency—it’s the rate they sell the currency to you. The “buy” rate is applied when they buy what remains of that currency back from you. Note that any margin is very likely to apply on both buy and sell rates, so you’ll pay it both times. 

An Example From London

How does this work in practice? Well, below you’ll see an image from a bureau de change in London.

On the date this photo was taken, the base exchange rate was £0.81 for every dollar, so if you got the base exchange rate you’d get £81 instead of the £79 shown, so this bureau de change is around 2.8% more expensive than the base exchange rate for exchanging between dollars and pounds. Here’s how the rates compare for other currencies. 

Where Can You Find a Bureau de Change Near You in London? Major Bureau de Change Chains

There are a number of large bureau de change operators in London.

The Cost of Buying Euros With Pounds With Major Bureau de Change Chains

Please note that some of these rates only apply to online ordering, or if you order your currency ahead of time. Some providers will provide a worse exchange rate if you exchange money without ordering first. We recommend always ordering ahead and confirming the rate you’ll get with a bureau de change. This table shows how much it will cost you to buy euros with pounds.

Where Can You Find a Bureau de Change Near You in London? Other Bureau de Change

You’re not limited to the big brands when it comes to bureaux de change. There are many smaller providers operating across London.

The Cost of Selling Euros and Buying Pounds With Smaller Bureau de Change

Please note that some of these rates only apply to online ordering, or if you order your currency ahead of time. Some providers will provide a worse exchange rate if you exchange money without ordering first. We recommend always ordering ahead and confirming the rate you’ll get with a bureau de change. This table shows how many pounds you will get when you sell your euros. We called each of these bureaux de change to get their latest prices for buying euros and selling pounds, but were not able to get quotes for Moneycorp or Travelex, hence their exclusion from the table above.

Multi-currency Cards, the Alternative To Expensive Bureau de Change?

You can avoid most of the fees associated with bureaux de change and spend less on your travel money by using an international travel multi-currency card. These cards allow you to spend money in different currencies and typically offer better exchange rates, lower costs and more convenience than a bureau de change. You’ll want to order your multi-currency debit card ahead of your trip, but then you can spend in confidence, knowing your money is going that little bit further.  

Read our comparison of four of the best multi-currency debit cards featuring N26's, Monese's, Revolut's and Wise's offerings. Enjoy low ATM fees, low commissions, speed and ease of use.