A new study has revealed the city that has spent the most at butcher shops over the past year, based on their card transaction data across their customer base.
With most hospitality sectors shut and the increase of people wanting to buy from small businesses, we wanted to find out who was paying the most to their local butchers from March 2020 to March 2021.
It was found that the top location for spending was Slough. The average amount spent came to £38.85 per transaction, swapping supermarkets for smaller independent support.
Oxford was spending £31.74 which is an 18% decrease on Slough. Butchers within Swindon were averaging at £31.03 per transaction and Chelmsford at £30.23 since 23rd March 2020 - when the first lockdown began.
The research, conducted by Paymentsense, attributed the results to consumers bulk buying from butcher shops throughout the pandemic. The report stated that with the country being in and out of lockdowns throughout the past year, many consumers may be more inclined to purchase more in one go, particularly with contactless card payments now increasing from £45 to £100.
"Whether it’s local grocers, butchers or fishmongers, some Brits are opting to spend more on their food, but in local independent businesses."
Jon Knott, head of customer insights at Paymentsense, said: “With hospitality sectors shut and an opportunity to support small businesses, the past year has been a great chance for independent retailers to offer goods that some places could not. Whether it’s local grocers, butchers or fishmongers, some Brits are opting to spend more on their food, but in local independent businesses.
“Some people might stick to their local supermarkets for regular food shops, but for special occasions or treats, more people are opting to recreate restaurant quality meals from the comfort of their homes.
“This is usually either with cook-at-home restaurant offerings that provide the food, or with online cook-along tutorials. Butchers will have seen the latter work to their advantage and with less money spent eating out and more foodies will be spending more to fine dine without leaving the house.
“There was a huge growth in Butchers taking out card machines for the first time (+123% year on year), as there was such a demand for services and needed to take card payments for the first time due to Covid."
The locations which spent the most in butcher shops since March 2020:
| Rank | Location | £ spent per transaction |
| 1 | Slough | £38.85 |
| 2 | Oxford | £31.74 |
| 3 | Swindon | £31.03 |
| 4 | Chelmsford | £30.23 |
| 5 | Kirkwall | £29.81 |
| 6 | Guildford | £29.77 |
| 7 | Stoke on Trent | £29.18 |
| 8 | Saint Albans | £29.16 |
| 9 | Coventry | £29.13 |
| 10 | Derby | £28.85 |
| 11 | Reading | £27.79 |
| 12 | Northampton | £27.56 |
| 13 | Lancaster | £27.52 |
| 14 | Crewe | £27.00 |
| 15 | Southampton | £26.35 |
| 16 | Plymouth | £25.78 |
| 17 | Liverpool | £25.41 |
| 18 | Bristol | £24.72 |
| 19 | Aberdeen | £24.14 |
| 20 | Bath | £23.91 |
The locations which spent the least amount of money since March 2020:
| Rank | Location | £ spent per transaction |
| 1 | Sheffield | £15.70 |
| 2 | Hull | £15.60 |
| 3 | Leeds | £15.43 |
| 4 | Sunderland | £14.49 |
| 5 | Durham | £9.02 |
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
