Bristol heads up Paymentsense contactless research

Bristol is the contactless capital of the UK, whilst Manchester and Newcastle are falling behind, according to Paymentsense research.

This found that 73% of the former’s card transactions were made on contactless in 2018, a 14% increase from 2017. Hull came second and London third. The latter, meanwhile, is somewhat unsurprisingly the capital of all card payments with 93 million total card transactions last year.

“As a society, we’re close to becoming cashless, with contactless transactions reaching over £5.6 billion in 2018 and set increase even further in 2019. There are areas of the country such as Bristol that are adapting to the shift in payments, while other large towns like Manchester and Newcastle are struggling to keep up according to our data. These cities must move with the times to stay competitive in our current digital era,” says Guy Moreve, Chief Marketing Officer at Paymentsense.

“For the many businesses that have embraced the cashless society, the prospect of the increase in contactless payments is a positive move and likely to lead to business success.”

Top ten cities for contactless card transactions:

1. Bristol - 73.14%, 

2. Hull - 72.84%

3. London - 72.48%

4. Durham - 71.64%

5. Hemel Hempstead - 70.48%

6. Slough - 70.17%

7. York - 69.49%

8. Birmingham - 68.52%

9. Sunderland - 68.36%

10. Leeds - 68.32%

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