I've used Apple Pay ever since First Direct supported it last Autumn. Absolutely love it.
I've found more and more retailers want to take your card in their possession and it was starting to irritate me - especially for contactless payments. Apple Pay forces the retailer to pass me the machine, not my card to them.
A few weeks ago I was in a pub and my Apple Pay was rejected. Anyway, long story short, they managed to get hold of my card after more 'rejections' and sent me away to my GF to get her card (stupidly leaving my card on the bar) which the barmaid picked up and tried to do another contactless payment without my authorisation and clearly took my cvv number. My card was cloned and they unsuccessfully (fortunately, as FD spotted it) attempted to pay for some random £1 purchases and then tried to book a holiday on my card.
Basically, if somewhere doesn't support Apple Pay, I'm extremely wary now.
I accept you were unfortunate the bar girl was dishonest but the above situation simply shows negligence and nativity on your side. You should NEVER have to allow a merchant to handle your card and you should never have left your card on the bar.
It's also the merchants discretion to accept or decline whatever payment methods they wish.