The London pub where cash is king

Here, the card does not rule and orders under £10 must be paid for with notes and coins, reports Pieter Snepvangers

Five years ago, a government review into access to money warned that Britain was “sleepwalking into a cashless society”. Yes, the proportion of payments made using physical pounds and pence has fallen dramatically but millions of people still rely on cash.

While businesses large and small have gone card-only, some are fighting back – and thriving as a result.

Voted London’s best pub by Time Out magazine last year, Skehan’s, in Nunhead, south-east London, has kept prices low and made sure regulars keep coming back by protecting the use of cash.

While rivals have turned to other methods such as charging customers American-style tips on pints or introducing “surge pricing” for drinking during “peak hours”, the independent family- owned pub has one rule: cash is king.

Despite the dominance of card payments in recent years, fuelled by the introduction of Apple Pay and Google Pay, which allow customers to pay with a wave of their mobile phones, the Irish pub insists all orders under £10 are paid for with cash.

For owner Bryan Fitzsimons, 39, the equation is simple. “If we transitioned completely to cashless, it would be very inconvenient for our older customers,” he says.

“We have to look after the older regulars who have always come here.

“We are popular with young people but we try to stay a very traditional pub. I can’t imagine not having a bank card myself, but when you work in a pub, you see people who don’t all the time, there are lots of people who still rely completely on cash.”

The other benefit Fitzsimons is able to pass down to his customers is competitive prices.

The average cost of a pint in the capital is now £5.90 with some West End venues charging as much as £9. At Skehan’s, a pint of lager starts at £4.70 for Foster’s and its well- regarded Guinness is only £5.

Fitzsimons explains: “We pay a lot of money to our card company. For every transaction we make, the card company is taking a percentage of that and it really adds up whereas we pay no such fees with cash. Using cash has allowed us to keep prices lower.

“Guinness and Foster’s is traditionally what the older men drink so I charge a bit more for the trendy beers. A Madri, for example, I might charge competitive prices for that to offset it.”

Skehan’s has around 80 regulars, Fitzsimons says, and around half of them rely on using cash to pay for their drinks. One of these regulars is 73-year- old David. He visits the pub every day to read the papers. Sat on a well-worn bar stool in prime position next to the wood- burning stove, he says: “I have been coming here for 21 years and I’ve always paid cash. I’m a pensioner, I don’t have that much money to go round so I pay the bills and whatever I’ve got left, I’m able to spend.

“The problem with cards is you really can’t keep an eye on your spending in the same way.

“It’s getting harder and harder to spend cash. There’s a pub in New Cross that told me I had to pay by card – I walked out.

“It’s different if you are going out for a meal and it’s £ 30 or £40. You expect to pay by card then but if you are only going in for a drink or pay a low amount of money, cash is preferable.” Despite his loyalty to Skehan’s, David is so passionate about cash, he says he would have to “consider his options” if they stopped accepting cash.

For now though, there are no such plans. For this pub, “the most important thing” is the mix between young and old, and Fitzsimons is acutely aware of making sure both groups feel welcome.

“If it’s all people my age, it would be terrible and if it was all 20-year- olds, it would be really annoying, it’s just nice watching a match and everyone’s here together, it’s lovely to have that. I think it’s what makes Skehan’s special.”

HOW CARD COMPANIES CHARGE BUSINESSES

Credit and debit card purchases involve numerous fees for businesses. A merchant service charge ( MSC) is usually charged as a percentage on each sale and is considerably higher for credit card payments.

There are also “gateway fees” to allow the cardholder’s bank to communicate with the merchant’s account, authorisation fees and PCI compliance fees, which ensure customer card data are stored securely.

As a rule of thumb, businesses can expect to pay between 2pc and 4pc of each transaction’s value, according to TrueLayer, a payments network.

These are rough estimates. Charges vary widely according to card type, payment type, industry and the volume of transactions you process.

British businesses spent £1.3bn on card processing fees in 2022, with Hannah Regan, a policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium, warning card companies are using their increased market power to implement higher fees.

She says: “Though alternative payment methods could provide much needed competition to the market, the dominance of card payments means it is essential that action is taken to prevent fees rising further.”

‘For every transaction we make, the card company is taking a percentage of that and it adds up’

Bryan Fitzsimons runs Skehan’s pub, in Nunhead in south-east London, where there is a £10 minimum spend for cards and cash is always welcome