Credit card us in England

• pubs, yes if they do food, sometimes if it is only for drinks.
• Grocery stores. Supermarket chains yes, small corner shops usually, though they may have a minimum amount (say £20).
• Tourist sights - depends what they are.

Always have enough cash on you, just in case.

We use ATMs like you do and make almost all payments with cash, even some hotels. Cash speaks. Take enough out to help your sister.

We've never had a problem with using our credit card in pubs, at tourist sites, or retailers. We do use ATMs to withdraw enough cash for small purchases at sandwich and coffee shops, or taxis.

If she has a small supply of cash and finds that it disappears quickly in the course of her day, maybe she'll withdraw a larger amount at the next stop. As you know, as long as she does have a debit card, there's usually no shortage of ATMs.

The UK is probably the closest to the USA in its use of credit cards that you will find in Europe. Some other countries may have greater overall card acceptance, but this is often some local debit card arrangement. There also isn't any annoying habit of expecting you to carry ID to use one.

"Just to confirm England isn't a backward nation and credit cards are widely accepted! :-)
Why do you think they might not be?"

Usually we stay in B & B's and they always require cash payment and it just seems like more places we go only want cash, so that is what we are always prepared for (not England). But, we don't tend to go to big cities where CC are the norm.

Emma:
The two times I've been to England, cashiers have complained (usually nicely, once the dude was very angry) when I try to pay for something small with a large bill (only a £20) or credit card. I can't remember the last time that's happened in the US.

There are slight differences in culture, and this is one example.

Àntipathy towards small card purchases is on the way out especially in places where contactless payments are available.

Thanks everyone! OK, ATM card and get some cash, then do everything we can with credit card but be ready to pay cash for smaller things, and try to get smaller bills to pay for them! Two weeks away!

...and if you have a chip enabled card, even if it is chip and signature, it will ease the transaction. One younger clerk in a store looked at my wife's mag strip card like it was a mistake and was not sure how to run it. Another clerk did, so no problems. I agree with most of the above, cards are widely accepted except for small purchases, used maybe even more than in the US, and with more POS type cards, even for a couple pounds.

We now have two credit cards with chips and we've never had one of those refused. However, the comment about cabs is true. We landed from Rome at Heathrow last April. Hopped in a cab and after we left the airport we noticed that the cab had a sign inside that said, "CASH ONLY." The driver was nice enough to stop at an ATM for us.

Next time, we'll ask the driver before we get in whether or not he accepts credit cards.

We've been to a couple of restaurants in small towns where they didn't know how to handle our primitive US magnetic-stripe credit cards, though they apparently could manage the more advanced and secure chip-and-PIN cards which may reach our benighted shores one of these years soon. That's a different issue, and I've been told that the little handheld machines used in advanced economies like the UK will also accept our primitive magnetic strips, but perhaps not every waiter in north Wales knows how to work this.

So if you take your sister to little out-of-the-way places you might find yourself buying her dinner with your wads of pounds. Best to be prepared just in case..... ;-)

Uh-Oh, don't have a chip and pin credit card. Yikes!

Any place which sees plenty of Americans will be quite used to seeing cards without chips, just the magnetic stripe.

Virtually all the machines used to accept the modern chip and pin cards have a slot on the side to swipe the old fashioned ones and while they may grumble (a British habit) and say "sorry" (another British habit) they will usually take the card and do what is needed.

I think that card usage is very high in the UK, the country is heading towards less cash, and alternative payment methods are on the rise - like contactless, and NFC payments like Apple Pay and Barclays bank fobs can only rise.

Don't worry.

Chip and PIN has been in place now in the UK for ten years or so - not quite a generation but getting towards that in parts of the retail trade.

Susan & Monte -- I didn't mean to scare you above. Your magnetic-strip card(s) will work fine almost everywhere credit cards are accepted (which is almost everywhere). There might be a few isolated smaller places that won't take them because they're not familiar with how they work. Just as there might be some others that prefer cash, especially for small purchases. Just (bank)roll with it, you'll be fine.

Britain was the most credit card friendly country we visited in Europe. We tried not to abuse it since fees are very high but at the end when we were running low on pounds and didn't want to buy more, we used our plastic.

Jenny

It's best not to use credit cards in pubs, unless buying food. There's nothing locals hate more than someone using a card to pay for drinks--it takes up too much of the barman's or barmaid's time and will create a lot of tutting and muttering.

Depends on the pub, do you think, Pete W.

When I go in we have a meal as well and always pay with card. It is expected.

A big round of drinks, card too. A pint or two and a lemonade and orange - cash.

And contactless has changed all the rules, at least at mine.

That's me, anyway.

Susan, your bank or card company can issue you a chip-and-pin credit card immediately when you call them.

The down side is that they usually will issue you a new number on the new chip card. They say that is to prevent any security breach, as (they say) the older strip cards are more vulnerable. This effectively cancels your old card. If you want to keep your old number and card active you should tell them. Car rental and hotel reservations may have been made with the old card, so talk with your card company about the possibility of getting an ADDITIONAL card for the new chip-and-pin and not cancelling the old one. You could use both on your trip, maybe. The strip card may not be accepted some places in England, but some places maybe will accept it, as Nigel said. Talk with your card company.

Nigel,
You're probably right.I;m too old fashioned