2026-02-02 12:00:37

A British pub has taken a stand against bank card charges by cutting prices for customers who pay in cash.

The Trumpet Inn pub in Hertfordshire has introduced a five per cent discount for cash payments after calculating how much it was losing to card transaction fees charged by banks and payment processors.

Each tap-and-go purchase, while convenient for customers, was quietly chipping away at already tight margins.

Card payments typically cost businesses between 1.5 and three percent per transaction, with additional fixed fees often applied on top.

For pubs selling high volumes of low-cost items such as drinks, those charges can quickly add up to thousands of pounds a year flowing straight to banks.

Rather than raising prices across the board, the pub opted to reward customers who pay with notes and coins, keeping more money behind the bar instead of handing it over to card companies.

Landlord Alan Davies is quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying: “We decided that paying for the bank charges, the credit charges for the machine, it equated to enough to pay another member of staff.

“The banks aren’t doing anything for this money, it’s just pressing some buttons. A lot of small businesses are struggling with the moment, so we’ve gone back to the old system like when I was young.

“We still take card, but we have the discounts for cash payments. Before this we had 95% of our transactions on card, now it’s risen to 50% cash. So that shows people still have cash and are using it.”

The move comes as small hospitality businesses across the UK face increasing pressure from rising operating costs while simultaneously becoming more dependent on card payments.

Many venues have gone fully cashless, but critics argue this leaves businesses at the mercy of banks, payment providers and technical outages.

By encouraging cash use, the pub is attempting to regain some control over its finances while highlighting what it sees as an often-overlooked drain on independent businesses.

However, the approach is not without risks. Handling cash brings added security concerns and administrative burdens, and some customers prefer the convenience of contactless payments.

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