THERE'S been an undoubted swing in consumer buying in the direction of local suppliers because of Covid-19 restrictions – but new data has revealed just where the big spenders on meat are based.

In Scotland, those who spent the most in their butchers per visit within the past year were in Kirkwall – not unsurprising given that the Orkneys Islands are famous for their beef.

There, consumers spent on average £29.83 per transaction, followed by Aberdeen city buyers who spent £24.15 every time their visited their local butcher shop.

New data, mined by credit card machine supplier, Paymentsense, revealed the cities that spent the most and least in their local butchers this past year. This was based on card transaction data gleaned across its customer base.

With most hospitality sectors shut and an increase in people wanting to buy from small and local businesses, the business said it wanted to find out who was paying the most to their local butchers from March, 2020, to March, 2021.

Scotland's top buying public, though, paled into insignificance with those south of the Border, where the top location for butcher spend was Slough. The average amount spent there came to £38.85 per transaction.

Oxford residents were spending £31.74 and butchers within Swindon were averaging at £31.03 per transaction.

Paymentsense's Jon Knott, head of customer insights, said that one of a few reasons as to why these statistics might be so high was because people around the UK had been bulk buying.

"With the country being in and out of lockdowns throughout the past year, some had been purchasing more in one go. We will be seeing more of this since the contactless limit has now increased from £45 to £100," he pointed out.

The least amount spent in Scottish cities was £17.30 per visit in Dundee, while those in Edinburgh averaged £17.95 per visit. But that was much better than the lowest spends in England, with the stats showing that just £9.02 was spent per transaction by consumers in Durham.

Mr Knott commented: “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 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," he said of the trending

"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."

He added: "In the period, there was a huge growth in butchers taking out card machines for the first time – that's plus 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.”

* Paymentsense is one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Europe and currently supply card machines and e-commerce solutions to more than 80,000 businesses in the UK and Ireland.