A petition has been set up after a Masham pub started accepting card only payments.
The King’s Head, which is run by Greene King, has gone “cashless” as part of a trial led by the brewery.
However, punters at the pub have argued that the move has put off some customers who may only carry cash.
Arthur Plumpton told the Stray Ferret that he set up the petition because local customers had stopped going to the pub as they do not possess or use cards.
He said:
“Greene King have introduced this, supposedly as a trial. Many locals do not use cards.
“They have cash they want to spend cash. Some do not even have a card. Greene King seem to forget that Masham is a rural town with many cash based businesses.
“Due to rising prices, many people use cash to budget and keep a check on spending.”
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Mr Plumpton added that many customers had only been informed a few days before it was implemented and that some believe a decision to go cashless “has already been made”.
Greene King told the Stray Ferret that a “small number” of pubs, which includes the King’s Head, had been chosen to trial card only payments as “a significant majority of payments are already by card”.
The company added that going “cashless” would allow it to provide a more efficient service.
A spokesperson for the King’s Head said:
“We’re trialling card-only payments at the moment, as nine out of every ten payments made in our pub before our trial were by card already.
“Going cashless entirely helps to reduce the amount of cash we need to secure at the pub, and means less time spent cashing up, helping us provide a more efficient service for our customers.
“With fewer banking facilities in our communities as well this can make securely and efficiently managing cash more difficult. This is just a trial at this stage and we are learning new things every day so people’s feedback is much appreciated.”