Bartender Geek

In London it's certainly possible to use credit cards in most stores and most restaurants though it would be considered very unusual to do so at a bar unless either buying a large round or staying for the evening and running a tab. Most supermarkets do the "cash back" thing, though my son informs me that our local Sainsbury's has stopped offering this now that they have cash point machines right outside. Our cash point machines are mostly free at point of use; the ones to watch out for are ones inside pubs or small shops where they may charge but are obliged to tell you so before you get far enough to incur the charge so you can cancel the transaction and go elsewhere if that is an option. It's still not uncommon though to see people peeling off notes in bundles at a supermarket to pay for a week's shopping. What's a whole lot less common is seeing a couple with a full trolley of food that's just been rung through the checkout both look at each other expecting the other to have means of payment only to find out that neither of them picked up a purse before leaving home! D'oh! (That's what happened to M and me this afternoon and we felt like spectacular idiots. There was no chance of coming home for a card as we were within minutes of their closing down the tills, it's Sunday and our Sunday trading laws don't allow them to take payment after 16:30. So they offered to put the stuff in their chiller room for us overnight and one of us will have to drive the 4 miles or so to collect it in the morning when they re-open!)