London Street Performers Go Cashless

Street performers in the UK are called “buskers”. It’s a term dating back to the 1860s and originates from the Spanish word ‘buscar’ meaning to seek. In most cases what these performers seek is to entertain, to make a name for themselves and to make money. The latter transaction has until recently been a simple one. The artist places an upturned hat or perhaps an open guitar case in front of them for passersby to place coins and hopefully the occasional bank note into.

Things aren’t that simple these days. The Bank of England have plotted the steady decline of cash payments in the UK as a share of total payments as people switch to card/contactless/phone payments.

Sources: Bank of England statistics and UK Finance — UK Payment Statistics

For the humble busker this poses an existential risk. If people aren’t carrying coins then they can’t tip buskers. That was certainly the case back in 2017/18 when I last looked into this field but things have changed. Over the past few weeks I have been checking out popular street performer sites around the capital and I’m pleased to note that nearly all the London buskers I’ve seen now have a cashless payment option:

4 London buskers across the capital with cashless payment devices

The cashless payment option usually involves a card reader from a company like…