CASH-STRAPPED customers are pawning their most prized possessions in a bid to keep financially afloat and pay their bills.

Unlike many struggling high street companies, pawnbrokers are attracting new customers.

According to the National Pawnbrokers’ Association business is growing by ten per cent a year with a new shop opening every week in the UK.

Boscombe-based George A Payne & Son Ltd has been providing quality jewellery and pawnbroking services for more than a century.

Director Nicholas Payne told the Daily Echo: “There has been a huge increase in demand. Because we specialise in jewellery people tend to bring in items such as wedding and engagement rings as well as prestige watches.

“People are struggling and credit is harder to come by. When they have reached their credit card limit they are finding it is more difficult to borrow from the banks. Unsecured loans involve huge amounts of interest. Unlike banks, we don’t carry out a lot of checks.”

He added: “The service we provide is very simple and risk-free; it is just another form of credit. Our customers have a valuable item which they use to borrow against, to tide them over. More than 90 per cent of the items are reclaimed.

“We have seen business steadily increasing over the years; pawnbroking has become a more recognised way of borrowing money and there are a lot more pawnbrokers out there.

“For short-term lending, pawnbroking offers quite competitive terms. Typically our interest rates are five per cent per month; an APR of 69 per cent.”

One of the oldest professions

Pawnbroking is one of the oldest professions, dating back to the Chinese dynasties of 3,000 years ago and in existence in classical Greek and Roman times.

It is strictly regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and all pawnbrokers must have a consumer credit licence from the Office of Fair Trading.

The distinctive symbol of pawnbroking; the three balls, was generally adopted in the mid 18th century. Almost certainly derived from the three blue discs that appear on the coat of arms of the Medici family, in whose territory the Lombard Goldsmiths originated, blue gave way to gold and the signs are still visible today.

All sorts of items

Many different items pass through the doors of a pawnbroker in the course of a week, ranging from the valuable to just the plain unusual.

Local companies report that gold jewellery is commonly pawned thanks to its current value, for which anything from £12 to £3,000 is paid in one transaction.

Silver tea sets are often brought in, and as with gold, their value is determined by their weight.

“The biggest loan we have paid out is £10,000,” explained Zoe Merrick, store manager of Cash Recycle, which has stores in Winton and Parkstone.

“This was for three high-end watches.”

A set of Wind-in-the-Willows Wedgewood plates as well as tools, telescopes, bongo drums and a snow machine have all been bought in recently to be pawned.