
With restrictions lifting from July we’ve seen a lot more positive growth from each sector. People returning to normality spending in bars, pubs and clubs saw an increase of 43% in August 2021. As businesses welcomed their staff back to the office families spent more on days out and staycations across the UK. One of the biggest contributors to the economic boost, came after restrictions eased to allow outdoor dining in April.
August, at the peak of summer and one month after all restrictions had been lifted, saw a booming month for the entertainment sector with spend increasing by 24%. Lifted restrictions allowed a bumper month for festivals, day trips and family activities such as zoos, theme parks, indoor climbing and aquariums. In Yorkshire we were happy to see that Leeds festival went ahead as well as the many food and drink festivals across the county that were previously cancelled the year before. Closer to home we were pleased to see Brodstock was able to run it’s excellent fundraising festival after a cancellation in 2020, Yorkshire Payments were proud to provide Brodstock with their card payment machines for the second time.
During lockdowns, as shops, restaurants and entertainment closed their doors, consumers turned to online shopping especially for ordering groceries and takeaways. Businesses who purely operated on the high street who were not set up online adapted their model and operations to fit the new online shopping trends. Yorkshire Payments helped many businesses get set up online to tackle the new demand. See our case study about Kebabeesh who we helped to adapt their restaurant to accept online orders for their takeaway system.
In 2020 the UK saw the largest online shopping sales ever, only behind China and America globally. By the end of 2020 online sales counted for 30% of total retail sales, a 10% increase from the end of 2019.
These statistics remained relatively unchanged even after the high street reopened. Large numbers of shoppers wanted to stay at home as a precaution to avoid crowds and queues and more people over the age of 65 began to use online services. Some forecasters predict that by 2023, numbers will stabilize to far higher than anything pre-pandemic.
It’s not just online transactions that’s seen an increase. Debit card transactions have increased by 21% between Jul 2020 and July 2021. Contactless payments counted for 67% of these transactions. Contactless transactions has seen an ongoing increase since 2019.
British consumer spending on credit and debit cards rose slightly in the week to Oct. 7 to 102% of its level in February 2020, before COVID-19 lockdowns, the Office for National Statistics said.
It has been a tough few years for businesses and consumers but statistics show that spending and the economy is beginning to see positive growth. Though this growth is not on par just yet with pre-pandemic levels there are positive signs that adapting and being resourceful is having benefits on the UK economy and industry sectors.
If you are a business who isn’t set up to take online payments or card payments, give our Customer Care team a call on 01422 323785 who will happily talk through your options and what products are available to you. We also have a showroom for customers to try before they buy, book a free consultation and see how we could help you.
Sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date with our news and updates.
Our Tech Support Team are available to help you with your day to day troubleshooting. Our on-call hours are as follows:
Monday – Saturday: 8am – 11pm Sunday & Bank Holidays: 10am – 4pm (See our Christmas Opening Times for more info)
Yorkshire Payments
22 Bethel Street
Brighouse
West Yorkshire
HD6 1JN
© Copyright 2025 Direct Card Solutions Limited T/A Yorkshire Payments Company Number: 08484768 Registered Office: Direct Card Solutions Limited T/A Yorkshire Payments, 22 Bethel Street, Brighouse, HD6 1JN. Yorkshire Payments is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA Number: 834172. Direct Card Solutions Limited T/A Yorkshire Payments is Regulated by The Information Commissioner’s Office. ICO Number: ZA000511
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Analytics" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 1 year | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 1 Year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Necessary" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary | 1 Year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Non-necessary" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to store the user consent for cookies in the category "Others". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to store the user consent for cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
elementor | Never | This cookie is used by the website's WordPress theme. It allows the website owner to implement or change the website's content in real-time. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 1 year | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin to store whether or not the user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
NID | 6 months | NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt.innertube::nextId | never | This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
yt.innertube::requests | never | This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
COMPASS | 1 hour | No description |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cf_bm | 30 minutes | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. |
__lc_cid | 2 Years | This is an essential cookie for the website live chat box to function properly. |
__lc_cst | 2 Years | This cookie is used for the website live chat box to function properly. |
__oauth_redirect_detector | Past | This cookie is used to recognize the visitors using live chat at different times in order to optimize the chat-box functionality. |
S | 1 hour | Used by Yahoo to provide ads, content or analytics. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 Years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_gat_gtag_UA_220506577_1 | 1 minute | Set by Google to distinguish users. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
vuid | 2 years | Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website. |