Anne TootillUpper crust head to the pawn shop in the UK
July 23rd 2008 11:55
A woman enters Liverpool's foremost pawnbroking establishment, Miltons. She needs three thousand pounds for school fees and leaves her beautiful engagement ring with Haywood Milton, director of Miltons. ‘She has not yet redeemed the jewellery, but we do expect her to come back for the ring, which was worth in the region of £9,000.’ He adds: 'She knew that our service is beautifully simple - it gets people out of a hole when they need a quick bit of cash.'
'We're seeing professional yummy-mummies in here every day of the week at the moment, coming in to pay for the family summer holiday,' says Milton. 'They're not on the breadline, but they're short of cash to put down the deposit on the villa or for the flights to the Caribbean, and other lines of credit have dried up.'
All that glitters: Michael Ayres, manager at Suttons & Robertsons, with some pawned items
Jim Tannahill, director of Suttons and Robertsons in London's Belgravia, which will lend up to £1m, has seen a huge rise in professional men and women bringing in diamond rings, watches, and other jewellery in return for quick cash.
New Bond Street Pawnbrokers in London's West End lends against luxury cars, on a 30-day buy-back basis. They will also take artworks and antiques. Hatton Garden Pawnbroker in London's famous jewellery street has given loans on items ranging from a Lamborghini sports cars to a foot-long 17th century ornamental ivory phallus. A broker in Essex took a boat as security.
Friday is the busiest day of the week - many builders use a pawnbroker to raise money to pay labourers when they have a shortfall between incoming and outgoing cash.
At the most prestigious end of the market, pawnbrokers are reporting that business is up 25 per cent over the past two months.
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Comment by TimmyH
Tech News
Can you HACK it?
Genyration
Comment by Anne Tootill
The Female View
Thanks Timmy.
By the way I just read your post on Binge Popping and thought it was fabulous. I had no idea this was going on all around me. We need young people like you in the know to educate us all.