Bristol Central and Edinburgh North and Leith have jointly topped a new ranking of the UK areas moving away from cash fastest, both down 67% on cash withdrawals between 2019 and 2024.
The figures come from LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, in a press release published 13 March 2025.
It tracked how withdrawal volumes changed across every UK parliamentary constituency over five years, and the results show a stark divide between city centres and everywhere else.
Almost every constituency at the top of the table is an inner-city seat with a young, commuter or student population, while the areas clinging on to cash tend to be smaller towns and rural or coastal seats.
Why is Edinburgh dominating the shift away from cash?
Edinburgh doesn’t just feature in this ranking, it dominates it.
Five separate Edinburgh constituencies made the top 20: Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Edinburgh West, and Edinburgh South West.
No other city comes close to that spread, and it means one Scottish capital accounts for a quarter of the entire top 20.
Bristol’s presence at the very top, alongside Cities of London and Westminster, Holborn and St Pancras, and Islington South and Finsbury, tells a similar story about the rest of England’s biggest cities.
The pattern points to dense, contactless-friendly city centres with younger populations and heavy card-reliant tourist footfall, the exact conditions that push cash withdrawals down fastest.
University seats such as Oxford West and Abingdon and York Central follow the same logic: students and young professionals simply tap and go far more than older or more rural populations.
What does the full top 20 look like?
The table below shows LINK’s verified top 20 fastest-declining constituencies for cash withdrawals, comparing 2019 with 2024.
This is a ranking of the sharpest falls in cash use, not a list of which areas withdraw the most money overall, those are two different measures and LINK hasn’t published a full table of the latter.
| Constituency | Fall in withdrawals |
|---|---|
| Bristol Central | -67% |
| Edinburgh North and Leith | -67% |
| Cities of London and Westminster | -66% |
| Edinburgh South | -65% |
| Holborn and St Pancras | -65% |
| Edinburgh East and Musselburgh | -64% |
| Glasgow North | -64% |
| Sheffield Central | -64% |
| York Central | -64% |
| Leeds Central and Headingley | -63% |
| Oxford West and Abingdon | -62% |
| Islington South and Finsbury | -61% |
| Edinburgh West | -61% |
| Wimbledon | -61% |
| Brighton Pavilion | -61% |
| Winchester | -60% |
| Bath | -60% |
| Edinburgh South West | -60% |
| Cardiff South and Penarth | -60% |
| Nottingham East | -60% |
Which parts of the UK still love cash?
Not every part of Britain is ditching notes and coins at the same pace.
LINK’s data also shows where cash withdrawals held up best, and the list looks very different from the top 20.
The slowest-declining constituencies cluster in Northern Ireland, the Midlands and the North East, areas with older populations, more rural coverage and less bank branch density.
- Weald of Kent: -22%
- Leicester East: -27%
- West Tyrone: -28%
- Mid Ulster: -29%
- Hull East: -30%
- Birmingham Yardley: -30%
- Wolverhampton South East: -31%
- Belfast West: -31%
- Hartlepool: -31%
- Bradford East: -32%
Two of these areas turn up elsewhere in our rankings series too: Hartlepool among the UK’s most dangerous places to live, and Bradford in the running for the most miserable place to live in Britain.
Why is the average cash withdrawal getting bigger while cash use shrinks?
Even as fewer people use cash, the amount they take out each time is rising.
The average withdrawal has grown from £65 to £85, even as total UK cash withdrawals fell from £116bn in 2019 to £80bn in 2024.
Cash now makes up just 12% of UK payments, down from 60% in 2008, and ATM transactions have nearly halved from 1.73bn to 921m over the same period.
Yet cash hasn’t disappeared: around £250m is still withdrawn every day, and roughly 5 million people in the UK still depend on it.
Northern Ireland has the highest average withdrawal per adult at £2,274 a year, well above the £1,424 national average, which fits with areas like West Tyrone and Mid Ulster sitting near the bottom of the decline table.
If you still rely on cash, it’s worth knowing where your nearest free-to-use ATM is before your local branch or machine disappears.
Bank branch and free ATM closures have accelerated in areas with falling footfall, which can mean a longer journey or a paid-for machine just to access your own money.
Factoring reduced access, and any withdrawal fees, into your everyday budgeting is worth doing now rather than after your nearest option closes.
If you found this interesting, please share!
Disclaimer: Content on this page is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making a financially related decision.
