People here go from repressed up the wazoo to open and friendly as anything. Being in my early 20's, this is what I've seen all my life.
Claiming Britons don't like to be touched is wholly misleading as I hugged most of my friends, even my guy friends. Girls didn't avoid touching you. Put it this way, for a term of English origin, I had no clue what cooties was nor had I heard it mentioned growing up from anyone. It took me associating with Americans and Canadians to even hear the word.
On this topic, I've noticed that North America is seemingly the only country with a sociopathy over touch. Back in Yorkshire I remember getting served at bars and convenience stores and people would slap change into your hand frivolously. Here in Ontario there's this anal-retentive dance that people try to give you change but refuse to touch you to actually give you the damn change. They'll try to slot the note into your hand and drop the change from like 4 inches, it's psyco-level bizarre.
I guess this is the difference when you grow up in an area with a history of mining, fishing and farming. People aren't afraid of touch.