IT'S official: Swindon is bang up for bangers as new stats reveal we spend more at the butcher's than most UK towns and cities.

The borough showed its passion for pork and by coming third in a list of stats showing the average amount spent per transaction at meat vendors in the last year.

Paymentsense totted up how much people spent when bringing home the bacon.

Slough topped the tables with £38.85 with Oxford coming second at £31.75 while Swindon's £31.01 of meat treats was not far behind.

On the other end of the scale, Durham chickened out with customers spending just £9.02 per transaction.

The data was based on card transaction data across the butchers' customer base and suggested that bulk-buying beefy portions during lockdown and having the contactless payment limit rise may be behind the boost in spending.

Jon Knott from Paymentsense said: “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 people 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.

"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.

"There was a huge growth in butchers taking out card machines for the first time (123 per cent more year on year), as there was such a demand for services and needed to take card payments for the first time due to Covid."