Crown and Anchor pub, Brixton Road, Brixton goes card-only

[Mr Retro]

I think it would be more useful for them to legislate to make sure banks make some form of account/card payment system accessible to all. That would have a greater long term benefit and would be less difficult to monitor compliance.

I agree with this. Move to cashless is inevitable and this is the way to make sure nobody is left behind.

 

[Mr Retro]

Yes, but unregistered cards that you top up can fulfill this function. Like is possible with Oyster cards. In some cities they have an equivalent to Oyster, that you can use in shops and bars etc. You just get the card from a machine and put some credit on it. In the long term this seems the more likely solution.

This is exactly what happened in Hong Kong. Their Oyster equivalent, the Octopus card has evolved to become a payments system.

 

[editor]

I agree with this. Move to cashless is inevitable and this is the way to make sure nobody is left behind.

And how do you think a pub going out on a limb to unilaterally ban cash and disenfranchise some of their regulars helps anyone reach that goal?

 

[19sixtysix]

Card payment doesn't have to mean credit card.

Card payment of any type in the pub seems to mean I end up buying more drinks. I'm paid well enough so occasionally it doesn't make that much difference but I have been shocked seeing my drinks laid out on the statement. I know it's way more than I would spend if I took cash.

 

[editor]

Card payment of any type in the pub seems to mean I end up buying more drinks. I'm paid well enough so occasionally it doesn't make that much difference but I have been shocked seeing my drinks laid out on the statement. I know it's way more than I would spend if I took cash.

Which is why some pubs just love to foist a card-only policy on their punters. And it's despicable.

 

[alex_]

In your post 623 on move to cashless society you said:



I know having a go at Ed is a sport here but you are all over the place with your views.

There are numerous beneficiaries and people who lose.

Some groups have both !

Primary benificiary, him - reduced costs, secondary beneficiary - some consumers - in theory less price rises, staff who don’t have to deal with robberies.

People who lose - minority of consumers, staff id imagine you can pay less if you don’t require cash handling plus you don’t need someone senior to stay at the end and cash up )

 

[T & P]

Yes you did: "Either all businesses offering less than a full range of payment methods are described as having little regard for their customers, or none are."

Fine. Let me rephrase that for the avoidance of doubt. Either all brick-and-mortar businesses offering less than a full range of payment methods are described as having little regard for their customers, or none are.

Do you not agree with that?

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I wanna pay by cheque next time I go to the pub...

 

[Nanker Phelge]

...and we'll never be a cashless society. How would car boot sales and record fairs and village fetes and church bazaars happen?

It's an a affront to great British traditions

 

[snowy_again]

Sex and drugs trade, charity donations, road tolls & car parking too - there's a whole bunch of things that will never be electronic.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Paying the builder

 

[editor]

Fine. Let me rephrase that for the avoidance of doubt. Either all brick-and-mortar businesses offering less than a full range of payment methods are described as having little regard for their customers, or none are.

Do you not agree with that?

Nope. Some bricks and mortar businesses may be temporary, or charities, or low cost start-ups who can't afford to accept credit cards or perhaps have problems securing their use. But all of this is just irrelevant wriggling in an attempt to provide excuses for a multi million pound pub chain deciding to effectively bar some of their poorer customers in the name of extra profit for themselves, when approx 99.9% of other pubs are happy to take cash.

Pubs aren't like most other businesses anyway. They often play a large role in the heart of some communities, and it's those communities who have sustained them for decades, sometimes centuries. Arbitrarily cutting off a section of that community fucking sucks, and what happens at Jimmy's Widget Store down the road is irrelevant.

 

[Guineveretoo]

Is it really a multi million pound business though? I thought it was a small chain with a handful of pubs. It appears to be a family business with two directors.

But really, I find it surprising that this debate is rumbling on on here, and at how angry some people appear to be.

Is there evidence of regulars being turned away, or being unable to drink there, because of this policy?

It’s not credit cards only - debit cards are fine.

The one time I went, I wasn’t really bothered by the card only policy, although I was surprised. And we made a point of leaving a tip in cash, because we had a meal, with table service.

It didn’t bother me when the Craft Beer Cabin went card only, either.

I get the point about some people bring excluded by such policies, but does anyone know how many regular customers of either establishment doesn’t have a bank account?

I suspect it’s very few, if any.

And I think we should be supporting the small pubcos who are reopening pubs or keeping them open.

 

[TruXta]

This isn't the thread for reason.

 

[editor]

Is it really a multi million pound business though? I thought it was a small chain with a handful of pubs. It appears to be a family business with two directors.

They have assets heading towards a million quid. They own at least six successful pubs and a restaurant.

And I think small pubcos should be supporting all their paying customers, not excluding them.

And here's the actual issue at stake: Millions 'will suffer without cash'.

And I'm having at go at this pub because they're one of the very, very few to inflict a card-only policy on their customers - in fact it's so rare they made national news over it.

And research has shown that if people just accept it, then many people - including the poorest in our community and the elderly - will suffer.

Isn't that worth speaking out about?

 

[Twattor]

Sex and drugs trade, charity donations, road tolls & car parking too - there's a whole bunch of things that will never be electronic.

although quite a few buskers seem to manage contactless. I passed one this morning whose terminal was set up at a default £2.

 

[editor]

although quite a few buskers seem to manage contactless. I passed one this morning whose terminal was set up at a default £2.

If non league football went card-only that would have a devastating impact on attendances. But jolly good for the busker.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I get the point about some people bring excluded by such policies, but does anyone know how many regular customers of either establishment doesn’t have a bank account?

How many is too few for it not to matter?

 

[Nanker Phelge]

although quite a few buskers seem to manage contactless. I passed one this morning whose terminal was set up at a default £2.

They wouldn't turn away a ten pound note though would they....

Choice.

 

[marty21]

I wanna pay by cheque next time I go to the pub...

did pubs ever accept cheques?

Sex and drugs trade, charity donations, road tolls & car parking too - there's a whole bunch of things that will never be electronic.

I make charity donations on-line and pay for parking via an app

 

[Guineveretoo]

did pubs ever accept cheques?

I make charity donations on-line and pay for parking via an app

Yes! I used to cash cheques in the local pub regularly. There were no banks in the village where i was living at the time, so the pub was our main source of cash

 

[marty21]

Yes! I used to cash cheques in the local pub regularly. There were no banks in the village where i was living at the time, so the pub was our main source of cash

Less likely in big cities I'd have thought , I associate cheques in pubs with navvies cashing their wage cheques then paying in cash over the bar .

 

[Guineveretoo]

Less likely in big cities I'd have thought , I associate cheques in pubs with navvies cashing their wage cheques then paying in cash over the bar .

I think it was really common back in the day. Although I didn't live in a big city, so maybe not... But there were no cash machines back then, so people had to go to banks to cash cheques and, once cheque guarantee cards were introduced, they were able to cash them in shops and pubs.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food projects etc....they run by cash....

 

[SpamMisery]

People fear change. I'm sure a load of people complained that the rise in popularity of cars would leave the poorest behind and were on the message boards of the day insisting that people had an inalienable right to choose between mechanised and non-mechanised modes of transport and that wheelwrights should remain on every street corner forever to service the needs of horse-and-cart users. But yes, the transition to a cashless society needs to be managed sympathetically whilst avoiding retarding technological advances.

 

[TruXta]

Oh god make it stop.

 

[Gramsci]

Is it really a multi million pound business though? I thought it was a small chain with a handful of pubs. It appears to be a family business with two directors.

But really, I find it surprising that this debate is rumbling on on here, and at how angry some people appear to be.

Is there evidence of regulars being turned away, or being unable to drink there, because of this policy?

It’s not credit cards only - debit cards are fine.

The one time I went, I wasn’t really bothered by the card only policy, although I was surprised. And we made a point of leaving a tip in cash, because we had a meal, with table service.

It didn’t bother me when the Craft Beer Cabin went card only, either.

I get the point about some people bring excluded by such policies, but does anyone know how many regular customers of either establishment doesn’t have a bank account?

I suspect it’s very few, if any.

And I think we should be supporting the small pubcos who are reopening pubs or keeping them open.

The what I thought was reasonable suggestion was that business should accept cash payments. I don't want recorded on my bank statement amount I spent in pub.

The other argument put forward here ( not mine but I agree with it) is that move to cashless society is being pushed by interests of the State and Banks. Something I agree with. Its the bigger picture.

Yes I agree some here are getting upset and angry. The fact that some posters like me bring up opposition to cashless society does make some posters here most upset.

All I have been saying is that as consumer I want a choice of payment alternatives when I go to a bar/ pub/ restaurant.

 

[Gramsci]

People fear change. I'm sure a load of people complained that the rise in popularity of cars would leave the poorest behind and were on the message boards of the day insisting that people had an inalienable right to choose between mechanised and non-mechanised modes of transport and that wheelwrights should remain on every street corner forever to service the needs of horse-and-cart users. But yes, the transition to a cashless society needs to be managed sympathetically whilst avoiding retarding technological advances.

Society is made by humans. Technological change is a political issue.

Technological change doesn't just happen.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

People fear change. I'm sure a load of people complained that the rise in popularity of cars would leave the poorest behind and were on the message boards of the day insisting that people had an inalienable right to choose between mechanised and non-mechanised modes of transport and that wheelwrights should remain on every street corner forever to service the needs of horse-and-cart users. But yes, the transition to a cashless society needs to be managed sympathetically whilst avoiding retarding technological advances.

Shut up you dull cunt...

 

[SpamMisery]

Good point, well argued.