Shoppers will today be able to get a glimpse of a future without notes and coins by visiting what's claimed to be the first ever UK street to go "cashless" for a day.All 32 businesses in Beech Road, Chorlton, will be attempting – as far as possible – to trade without cash and accept only card payments.

The experiment taking place in the leafy south Manchester suburb is a joint venture between the local traders' association and a card payment company, and is designed to test the claims made by some pundits that most shoppers are now so used to paying for everything by card that they would welcome a cash-free society.

Articles proclaiming "the death of cash" have, of course, been appearing for years, but perhaps things really are changing. Earlier this month the UK Cards Association revealed that three-quarters of all retail spending is now by debit or credit card – up from less than half a decade ago – while the British Retail Consortium said customers "are using less cash than ever".

Millions of us now carry contactless debit and credit cards and this technology will receive a major boost when all London buses controversially go cash-free on 6 July. Meanwhile, the major high street banks have just launched Paym, which enables you to pay the window cleaner or give back the £10 you borrowed from a workmate at lunchtime, simply by pressing a few buttons on your mobile phone. Other hi-tech systems are also being rolled out, and then there is the rapid growth of virtual currencies such as bitcoin.

Ludovic Piot of Epicerie Ludo is part of the cash-free zone.

Against this backdrop, it will be interesting to see how the traders of Beech Road – in an affluent neighbourhood renowned for its alternative "vibe" and high proportion of independent shops (and Guardian readers) – get on with encouraging their customers to forgo cash and pay only with cards on what is traditionally one of the busiest days in the local calendar.

Businesses taking part in the experiment range from newsagents, bakeries and delis to cafes, restaurants and pubs.

Patrick Hall, proprietor of The Laundrette, a pizza restaurant and cocktail bar, is aiming to go completely cashless for a day, apart from tips to serving staff.

"On a normal weekend around 70% of payments are by card and 30% by cash, but we are going to encourage all our customers to enter the spirit of the day and pay by card, and I don't envisage having too many problems," he says. "We are increasingly in a world where cash is disappearing, and this is a chance to prepare ourselves for that. The big chains automatically offer customers several ways to pay and some small independents can lag behind."

Hall offers both chip and pin and the newer contactless card payment systems, the latter for transactions under £20. But, unlike some small independent retailers, he does not insist on a minimum amount if paying with plastic, so customers can pay for just a coffee, for example, by card.

However, when Guardian Money chatted to some of the other retailers, it soon became clear that claims in the advance publicity that would see notes and coins banished completely for a day were simply unrealistic – which perhaps suggests that cash won't be going gently into that good night any time soon.

Sarah Raine, manager of Epicerie Ludo, an independent deli, wine merchant and grocery store, says: "Given that we bake bread and pastries and sell a lot of individual items with a low transaction value, and given that we have a minimum value of £5 to pay by card, I don't think it will be possible to go completely cashless – but I am going to promote card payments as much as possible."

She adds: "On a typical Saturday, value-wise 65% of transactions are by card, but by number of transactions, 63% are in cash. I'm interested to see if this will shift if we encourage people to use cards, and whether people spend more when using a card – it could be the case. Already, I notice that if someone wants to buy £4.50 worth of items, they will often buy something extra to take it over the minimum £5 limit so they can pay by card."

You would imagine that going plastic-only would present particular problems for newsagents, whose customers include lots of children buying sweets who are too young for payment cards, and some technology-resistent pensioners picking up their morning paper or pint of milk. Craig Etchells at Beech Road newsagent C & W Etchells says if someone doesn't want to pay by card, or is unable to, they will of course be able to pay with cash – "you're not going to turn trade away" – though he will be trying to encourage people to use plastic.

"About £7 seems to be the turning point from where someone switches from paying cash to paying with a card," he says. "Up to a fiver, it's generally cash. Over £10, nine in 10 transactions are probably with a card." His shop typically imposes a 30p surcharge if someone spends less than £6 and pays with a card, though this is being waived for the day.

Mark Latham at card payment provider Handepay says Britain is at the forefront of countries heading towards becoming cashless, "because the public are always eager to embrace new technology". He adds: "There is now an expectation that card payment is available everywhere – it takes us aback as consumers if it isn't."

But not everyone is embracing this revolution: earlier this month a survey found that more than a third of consumers (38%) avoid contactless payment methods because they don't know enough about the technology and are "worried about security". The poll by Vista Retail Support also found that a further 24% of people don't use the technology because they do not know which of their cards are enabled for contactless payments, or don't know how to use them.

Another of the Chorlton experiment participants, Rosa Stone, manager of the nearby Horse & Jockey pub, will be dropping the normal £10 minimum transaction limit on chip and pin card payments for the day, and encouraging customers to use cards over cash.

"I think it's a fascinating experiment," she says. "Around 60% of our customers already prefer to pay by card, typically to settle a tab they set up to pay for food and drinks during their visit. But I'm really interested to see whether the other 40% of customers react well or get annoyed when we ask them pay by card, though we will accept cash if people insist. If they just want to buy a packet of crisps for example, it would be hard to refuse a 50 pence piece."

The event's website, handepay-cashless-street.co.uk, will be regularly updated to offer visitors a live feed of trader and customer vox pops, reaction via social media, blogs and films.