<P> The gold reserve of the United Kingdom is the amount of gold kept by Bank of England as a store of value of part of the United Kingdom's wealth . Leftover from the Gold Standard which the country abandoned in 1931 it is the 17th largest central bank reserve in the world with 310.29 metric tonnes of gold bars . As of 2017 the value of the gold is estimated to be worth £ 9.6 billion ($12.5 billion). </P> <P> Prior to Britain's declaration of war in September 1939 vast amounts of gold were being shipped across the Atlantic to the United States via Montreal, Canada to pay for weapons . After France was invaded by Nazi Germany, fear of Britain also suffering the same fate led to most of the country's gold being relocated under a secret operation known as Operation Fish . In May 1940 under order of the government 280 tonnes of the nation's gold was transported from the Bank of England in London up to Martins' Bank in Liverpool ready to be shipped to Canada . </P>

How much gold does the uk government hold