PayPal is working with shopkeepers in London’s Richmond High Street shopping district to accept customer payments via mobile devices and their profile pictures.

According to the company’s official blog, PayPal has added a new, “Local” tab to its existing app that enables users to find shops or restaurants in your area that accept mobile PayPal payments. The app can then be used to check in, as you would on Facebook or Foursquare, ultimately allowing the user to pay for goods using the PayPal app.

The Local utility of PayPal’s app promises to help smaller, local vendors to more efficiently and conveniently process mobile transactions with the added security benefit of matching every transaction with a photo ID of the customer.

Upon checking in, the customer’s name and photo appears on the shop’s till – also a mobile device, tablet or smart phone – where the cashier charges the appropriate amount by clicking on the shopper’s profile picture. The customer then receives an alert on their phone informing them that a transaction has occurred, how much they’ve paid as well as PayPal’s customary email receipt.

A wide variety of businesses in the Richmond High Street neighborhood of vendors are participating in the new Local utility. The list of participating locations ranges from restaurants to clothing retailers to hotels and includes Cook & Garcia, TheFarmery, The Tea Box, The Bingham Hotel, Revolution, Caffé Paolo, The Cedar Coffee, Urban Diner, Pier 1 Fish and Chips, Noble Jones, Hill Café and Knot Coffee and Pretzel.

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