One in five shops now refuses to accept cash. Yet some traders in communities such as Saffron Walden in Essex are fighting harder than ever for its survival.
There have been traders on this town’s high street since 1141 – when the first market opened. Back then, transactions normally took the form of bartering, with goods rather than money being exchanged. Step forward 880 years and the number of traders refusing to accept cash has started to creep up.
Outside gift shop Between The Lines, there is a sign stating: ‘Card payment only please’. At the tills other signs explain that ‘to protect our staff and customers we are currently not accepting payment by cash’. It provides a polite reminder of how shopping habits have been changed by the pandemic. Yet manager Paula Ellis insists it does not mean anyone with just cash in their pocket will be turned away.
‘Choice’: Karen Oakley is happy to accept notes at her Saffron & Sage delicatessen
She says: ‘Money makes the world go round – and we want to keep everyone happy. Although we are set up only to take card payments, there have been occasions when I have taken cash from customers who have no other form of payment.’
Just a few doors up the street, hairdresser Law Salons also has a sign outside the front door saying: ‘We are not able to accept cash’. Creative director Chris Law says: ‘The pandemic has sped up the rush away from cash. Many people are no longer even using contactless with a debit or credit card. Phone apps are now all the rage. In 20 years’ time no one will be using cash on the high street.’
But not all retailers have given up on cash. Karen Oakley, owner of delicatessen Saffron & Sage, still welcomes cash customers. She says: ‘It is all about choice. If someone wants to pay by cash then you should not refuse. About one in five customers still want to pay with cash and we are here to serve them.’
Karen’s figures tally with those from banking association UK Finance. Its latest data indicates that 17 per cent of payments still involve the handing over of notes or coins. However, there are fears that once the contactless limit rises from £45 to £100 later this year, combined with further bank branch closures, less than one in ten transactions will be cash based by 2028.
Tony Kisielowski, manager of family butcher Burton & Son, has seen his business struggle over the past 16 months. But since reopening, a one-way system has been put in place, with two doors permanently open and clear plastic screens put up to limit potential coronavirus infections. He says: ‘I cannot stand the push towards using cards in supermarkets and the use of self-service tills – and neither can our customers. Before lockdown, half the people who came here paid in cash, but now it is much lower.’
Grateful for this inclusive stance is customer Geoff Ball, who has just handed over a crisp £20 note for half a dozen lamb and pork chops. The 94-year-old says: ‘When you want to budget there is nothing better than cash in the hand. Otherwise you have to keep checking all your bank statements.’
Natalie Ceeney, author of the independent Access to Cash Review, believes as many as eight million people still rely on cash for their day-to-day spending. The former Financial Ombudsman Service boss says: ‘It is all about fighting for freedom of choice. Everyone should have the right to pay by cash. Taking away the cash option is effectively telling the most vulnerable who prefer to use cash that they are not welcome. We all have a moral responsibility to look after the whole of society and not to be selective over who gets served at a shop or a cafe.’
Ceeney has helped to set up half a dozen pilot schemes across the country looking at ways to support cash – including two shared banking hubs running until September. Separately, consumer group Which? has 200 retailers signed up to a ‘cash friendly pledge’, including supermarkets Asda and Waitrose.
But banks are less eager to help. Despite signing up to an ‘access to cash action group’, their only action seems to be axeing branches. At least 500 will shut this year.
Last week, the Government launched an access to cash consultation to explore ways to keep it on the high street. Legislation will follow that should result in cash being available nationwide.
