Britain’s ten most contactless cities revealed

Businesses could lose out on trade if they refuse to adapt to the contactless trend, as research suggests a third of UK consumers find another shop if the vendor did not accept card payments.

New data, collated by card processor Paymentsense from the consumer spending habits and opinion of 2, 000 UK residents, reveals the cities leading accelerated growth in contactless payments with thetop ten predicted to go cashless first.

The findings also predicted that contactless payments will make up 27 per cent use of all payments by 2026, highlighting the importance of card transactions if a company is going to survive in today’s market.

Head of marketing at Paymentsense, Guy Moreve, said: As a society, were close to becoming cashless as our research highlights which UK cities are the most advanced in terms of payment solutions.

There’s areas of the UK that are adapting to this movement, but others that havent made the list need to improve and move with the times.

London tops the chart for contactless payments with the highest number of card transactions in the country almost 60m.

Top ten cities for card transactions

City	Sum of transactions
London	59, 498, 327
Birmingham	10, 000, 609
Bristol	8, 297, 118
Brighton	6, 775, 089
Manchester	5, 449, 368
Sheffield	4, 765, 407
Edinburgh	4, 140, 689
Portsmouth	3, 712, 439
Leeds	3, 655, 217
Oxford	3, 450, 293

 

Four out of five Brits said card transactions, including contactless, were their preferred form of payment.

Young spenders are the biggest users of contactless payments, as 41 per cent of young people aged 18-24 said it was their favourite way to pay.