A power outage hit many hospitality payment systems connected to Worldpay across the UK which left England supporters disappointed, and the industry calling for more resilience.
People across the UK were unable to make card payments yesterday (23 June) due to a Worldpay power outage.
Payment terminals from Worldpay clients were notably affected, which includes Tesco branches and other supermarkets, as well as local British pubs during the World Cup game between England and Ghana.
This led to many pubs and bars to place notices of “cash payments only” as many Brits’ preferred payment method is via digital wallets, such as Apple Pay.
The outage lasted for several hours and a Worldpay spokesperson revealed this was due to a “power grid disruption” in the UK.
“The UK experienced a power grid disruption, which caused intermittent transaction authorisation issues for some Worldpay clients,” said the spokesperson.
“Our technical teams completed restoration efforts yesterday and transaction authorizations are processing normally.”
Tesco confirmed today (24 June) the intermittent issues of accepting digital payments has now been resolved in a post responding to a customer query on X.
A costly night for local UK businesses?
The Worldpay outage would have likely seen droves of England supporters either abandon a local pub due to not being able to accept digital payments, or rush to an ATM to withdraw cash.
Watching England World Cup games at local pubs is one of the country’s most popular methods.
A report from Clover, a Fiserv-owned payment management company, revealed today that pub and bar transaction volume in England saw a 91% increase during England’s 4-2 victory over Croatia.
Prior to kick-off, supermarkets and restaurants also saw moderate increases in transaction volumes of 13% and 15% respectively, as many supporters opted to buy food and beverages before the England-Croatia game.
Transaction volumes at pubs surged by 148% in the first half of the game before reaching a peak increase of 230% – more than treble the normal levels – during the second half.
After the game, England’s victory created a secondary wave of spending as post-match transaction volumes in the hospitality sector remained 190% higher than usual.
Paul Adams, SVP, Head of Merchant Product and Commercialisation, EMEA at Fiserv, said: “England’s opening day win may raise expectations that ‘It’s Coming Home’ but as far as pubs and bars are concerned, English fans are very much ‘Going Out’ when the World Cup is on.
“Our data shows the significant benefit to the hospitality sector that the World Cup can bring, with sales almost trebling during England’s match against Croatia. This isn’t just a shift from other parts of the day, it’s a real, noticeable boost to hospitality spending.”
Further calls for more offline capabilities
Outages across payments systems is an unfortunate common thread in recent years as digital payments’ resilience has once again been called into question.
A significant power outage occurred in parts of Spain and Portugal in April 2025, impacting payment access, digital payment networks and point-of-sale systems.
There are limited offline payment services for digital wallets, such as VeryPay’s NFC wearable token bracelets that link to e-money accounts. But these offline functions are scarce and many global policymakers are developing dedicated digital currencies to enable payments with no internet connection.
Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya, Chief Technology Officer at BKN30, told Payment Expert the outage affecting the England-Ghana game last night was a reminder of the industry’s need for further resilience of core systems.
“It wasn’t just the goalless match that frustrated English football fans last night. Worldpay’s outage was another reminder that resilience in financial services is not just about keeping core systems online, but ensuring services can continue when the infrastructure around them is under stress,” said Paolini-Subramanya.
“When payment services depend too heavily on single points of failure, disruption is felt immediately by customers and merchants. The strongest institutions are building architectures that remain accessible, keep data reliable, and maintain a consistent customer experience, so incidents can be contained behind the scenes rather than becoming customer-facing crises.
“Outages may be inevitable, but the real test is how well financial institutions absorb disruption without compromising trust or customer experience.”
