Cash vs. Card in London

That is my strategy. Restaurants and hotels on plastic, any thing less (including snack lunches) pay cash.

I would put the max amount for cash at about £10-£20. Really it is whatever you find convenient. No hard and fast limits.

Do whatever suits you best. There are few places including coffee shops that don’t take cards, but I usually pay local cafes in cash for a sandwich lunch. Supermarkets obviously take cards - I have seen someone buying 2 bananas in Tescos and paying by card. I usually pay by card if it’s over £10.

Do a Google search for "london cashless city".
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46507529

Crown and Anchor went fully cashless.

Customers can use debit cards, credit cards and contactless payments
including Android Pay and Apple Pay. But a fiver will get you nowhere.

UK Finance, a trade association, projects that in Britain cash will be
used in just one fifth of all sales by 2026. In the last year alone,
4,735 cash machines have disappeared,

Would be interesting to hear from our UK friends.

Up until about a year or so ago, I still used cash for small purchases. But really don't bother at all now. I have a few notes in my wallet in case I really need cash, but never carry any change. Whereas a couple of years ago I usually paid cash at eg Pret, now I just tap the card - so much easier. Much prefer not having to faff around with cash.

During last two stays in London (2017, 2018), I found most small transactions were paid for with cards - actually cards and phones. But cash is also an option at least at major stores like Sainsburys, Tesco, Boots, etc. Do what works for you.

I've evolved from using cash a lot in London to almost always using my card - actually using my phone for transactions under £30. My Google Pay uses my credit card with no foreign transaction fees. I got so spoiled with paying by just tapping my phone at the terminals in London, that it was an unpleasant surprise to find relatively few places with that function once I returned home. (Since that time that has changed a lot here and I'm back to waving my phone around, lol.)

I am in London every couple of years for primarily business, but yes, overwhelmingly transactions are cashless, even for a small purchase. A card with a chip though would be much preferred over just magnetic (if there are any of those anymore) and the option for a PIN would be ideal but not required.

However, especially for small purchases, the locals use Contactless, either a card, or their phone, using Apple iPay or Google Pay. If you use phone payment now, you can use it there as well with appropriate cell coverage. So for really small purchases, having cash may be quicker than processing a card and possibly printing out a slip to sign (though your card may accept small transactions without verification).

I think small vendors at street markets may sometimes need to be paid in cash. Otherwise, I tend to reach for cash if I'm spending under £10 and for a credit card if the amount is £10 or more.

Just returned from 10 days in London and Oxford and barely ever needed cash, probably could have used cards even more than we did. It's so easy to tap, no need to worry about change etc. Used way less than we had in Prague and Germany last year and Italy 2 years ago.

Wow, I googled london cashless city and read a few articles, amazing. Didn't even realize that I personally at home use cash so rarely now and that a larger city like London or Paris is pretty much cashless, likely approaching 80% non-cash transactions in 2019.

Of course it's different being a foreigner (will my card work, how much am I getting dinged each time I use my cards in a foreign country, things like that) and I will have some cash with me but yes, I think in the future cash will become less and less acceptable for routine transactions. Interesting reading articles of places that have gone completely cashless.

The cost of FX transactions is dependent on your credit cards T&Cs. Cards issued by the same bank can and do have different FX charges.

I use a Capital One Quicksilver Visa for my foreign travel. My Quicksilver is a no FX fee with conversion at Interbank rates. On top of that I get a 1.5% "reward" rebate on charges. That said, I carry back up cards from other banks and do the foreign travel notification.

Not London specific, but on my recent trip I ran into a few restaurants and one hotel that did not take credit cards. Generally, we use a card for most purchases and use cash for the snacks and afternoon tea and pastry.

I've been back in London for eight days. I have yet to use cash. A few places I've been to for food no longer accept cash.

In fact, I have been back in Britain for six weeks and I can count on one hand the number of times I've used cash.

I only use coins for parking and only if there is no app covering that car park or they don't offer contactless at the machine. 80 or 90 percent do offer it where I park. I have to go to the local hospital frequently and the main car park offers both pay by app and contactless in addition to cash so I only use cash there if the machine has gone west. The smaller car park only accepts cash so cash it is there.

In addition to parking I'm hard pressed to think of another need for coins.

Notes (bills) get used maybe once a month or so somewhere or other but I can't off the top of my head remember where recently. Wait, yes I do. I needed a couple of things at an Aldi supermarket about 2 months ago and their power had gone off so no cards or apps accepted until the power came back on. But they had a till drawer open and some sort of backup to note what had been bought and I handed over a £10 note and got actual change back. Exceedingly rare.

Pretty much everything else in my life is on my phone - all my banking, bills, and payments as well as store transactions. Apple Pay and contactless is wonderful. When I go to the department store everything goes on Apple Pay. Even a 4K TV and laptop last winter. Just pay with the thumb.

The other thing is I'm not in London all the time - living as I do in the wilds of Northamptonshire - and the same in London applies here too. Today I was in rural Shropshire near the Welsh border and paid for everything there with my phone.

Then again, I don't need to worry about currency exchange, or only having a magnetic strip on my card. I guess only having a magnetic strip on my card would be a great reason to use Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Just to give the other side of "London is a cashless city," I paid cash for almost everything - by my choice. I do agree that almost everyone else was using their contactless cards, but no one was upset that I was not.

So, if you want to go cashless, fine; if you want to pay cash, fine too. As noted, there are some places that are cash only, and some places that require cashless payment, but for most things, it's your choice.

Before deciding, do look at the fees you will incur for various payment options.

I have seen someone buying 2 bananas in Tescos and paying by card.

Lol, that happened to me last week, the bloke in front bought one banana and paid by card, 75p! I also don't know why he didn't just use the self service till instead of waiting forever behind an old woman and her incessant chatting.

Thank you everyone! Very helpful responses!!

I’ll add to the pile on. I used my contactless Capital One card for everything during my last trip. Obviously, London is a major world financial centre and very international.

I try to avoid cash since I then have to make sure it gets used up before I get home. Also, even though I’m quite familiar with the coins, it still takes me longer to count them.

I’m basically cashless in the USA as well except for summer street festivals, just wish we had wider acceptance of contactless in the USA.

We were in London two weeks ago, never once paid in cash. Cards are pretty much preferred over cash. Now what to do with £'s we have accumulated over the years!

You will need cash if you take a tour with London Walks, but other than that, there are not that many places where cash is needed.

We used Apple Pay almost everywhere. It eliminates the need for paper receipts and really speeds the payment process up. Amazing how much things have changed over the past few years.

I use my credit card most of the time I'm in London. If you prefer to use cash, then do it. Do what's right for you.

We used Apple Pay almost everywhere. It eliminates the need for paper receipts and really speeds the payment process up. Amazing how much things have changed over the past few years.

We were in London last month and did the same. The nice thing about Apple Pay is your actual credit card number is never part of the transaction. Almost everywhere we went we could use Apple Pay, even in restaurants with the little machines they bring to your table.