Bracknell Forest has lost almost a quarter of its ATM's during the pandemic, new research shows.

A total of 17 cash points have been closed between January 2019 and September 2020, meaning only 78 serve the borough.

Across the whole of the UK, the figure is far worse and during the same time frame, 7,293 machines were closed, which equates to 340 vanishings from the high street every month.

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Another worrying trend is the number of free cashpoints being removed is happening at a faster rate than ones that require a usage fee.

Bracknell News:

The report by UK merchant payment provider, Dojo has provided data for the worst UK cities.

The city of York has seen the highest rate of decline, with its number of ATMs dropping from 63 in January of 2019 to just 45 in September 2020, losing 18 machines.

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Jon Knott, Head of Customer Insight at Dojo, said: “During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the makeup of the great British high street has changed enormously. 

"While it’s long been evolving in the face of the rising of the digital marketplace, coronavirus has reaffirmed the dominance of financial technologies.

"As we’ve seen already in the press, the contactless limit could increase once again from £45 to £100, allowing people more convenience to tap for their in-store purchases. With more and more people opting for Apple and Google Pay which has no capped limit for contactless payments, consumers are welcoming the efficiency and speed at which they can purchase larger value products and services.

"It is no surprise then, in our digitised economy, that the use of cash is decreasing, making ATMs redundant."