Can French restaurants refuse UK credit cards?

A Connexion reader was recently refused payment using a UK-issued credit card at a French crêperie, despite having paid there several times previously without issue.

His group, after dining at a crêperie in south-west France, attempted to pay a bill of around €36 per person using two UK Visa credit cards.

According to the reader, both cards were declined by the restaurant owner, who explained that the business no longer accepts foreign cards due to high processing fees charged by their payment provider. The group therefore paid in cash.

Other restaurants over the weekend accepted their UK cards without issue.

Can French businesses legally refuse foreign credit cards?

Yes. In France, merchants are legally allowed to choose which payment methods they accept.

Under French consumer law, a business may:

• Refuse card payments entirely

• Accept only certain card types or networks

• Set conditions such as minimum spend thresholds

However these rules must be clearly displayed to customers in advance.

In our reader’s case, if they were not properly informed beforehand or if this policy was not clearly displayed, the refusal may not be compliant. If it was clearly communicated, then the restaurant has no obligation to accept any card (whether French, UK, US, or otherwise).

Why are some businesses refusing UK cards?

Since the UK left the EU, the previous caps on cross-border exchange fees no longer apply to UK–EU transactions. Following Brexit, Visa and Mastercard increased their fees on these payments.

This means payments from UK-issued cards can now cost EU businesses more to process than previously.

For small businesses such as cafés and crêperies, these costs matter. They often operate on tight margins so even small differences per transaction can influence which payment methods they accept.