A pub chain run by a former Cambridge University scientist has started accepting bitcoins in exchange for pints of beer.

Stephen Early, a director and co-founder of Individual Pubs Limited, installed the first bitcoin cash register app at the White Lion in Norwich. It has since been deployed at the chain's other pubs in Cambridge, Peterborough and Hackney.Users simply scan a QR code on the till receipt to instantly convert the sterling transaction to the equivalent bitcoin price.Cambridge cluster news site Cabume reports on the first bitcoin transaction at the Haymakers, where a half-pint of Milton Icarus sold for £1.55, or 0.0202 Bitcoins at an exchange rate of almost £77 for a single bitcoin.Viewed as a novelty at the Cambridge bar, the bitcoin option has generated more serious interest from punters at Individual Pubs' London outlet, the Pembury Tavern in Hackney. Close to London's tech city, the venue has been adopted as the pub of choice for the next London bitcoin meetup later this month.