Pawnbrokers store has ceased trading
ANATIONWIDE pawnbrokers with a Widnes shop has ceased trading and come under fire for allegedly keeping customers in the dark about the reported closure of its stores.
A generic statement on the website of Albemarle & Bond said ‘this store has ceased trading’.
The firm has a shop in Albert Square Shopping Centre in Widnes and the company has announced on its website that all its stores have ceased trading.
A&B Pawnbrokers (Albemarle & Bond) and Herbert Brown owner Speedload Finance told the BBC that its 116 shops were now closed due to ‘significant losses’ but that ‘options available’ to it were being explored, which includes a buyer for some or all stores.
The stores are often used as a short-term loan where people temporarily sell items – such as sentimental jewellery – and buy them back for inflated prices. According to the National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA), customers have been kept in the dark about the closures.
A statement posted on the pawnbroker’s website said that ‘this store has ceased trading’.
The NPA said that Speedloan Finance, which owns the highstreet brands, has ‘ closed a number of stores’ and taken the decision to downscale.
A statement said: “Their decision to downscale UK operations is a strategic matter for the company but the NPA
● has expressed its concern that the communication of their actions to their customers falls below the standards expected of its members.
“In particular we are most unhappy with the fact that customers cannot get through to the helpline.”.
The association said it had demanded the management of the company resolve the issue as ‘a matter of urgency’.
The statement on the company’s website said that it was ‘unable to contact all customers prior to the closure date’.
All items would be transferred from the affected shops to the company’s pawnbroking centre for the duration of the loan, it said, adding: “We apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused by the store closure.”
In 2014, Albemarle & Bond went into administration, but was rescued by investors after a £10m buy out in 2016.
It was then bought by the company Speedloan Finance, which kept the trading name.
The latest company accounts from Speedloan Finance – which also owns the jeweller and pawnbroker Herbert Brown – show that in 2018 the parent company made a £3.4m loss before tax, compared to a £1.9m loss the year before.