Pawn moves into mainsteam

Pawnbrokers are replacing the gaps left on many high streets by the retrenchment of the country’s high street banks, according to a new report.

The Local Data Company has published a report titled Pawn is Reborn which states that over a two-year period the number of pawnbrokers’ shops has increased by 44%, while the number of high street banks dropped by 1%, as branch numbers decreased by 43 to 5,183.

Bolton-based franchisor Cash Generator is also named as the third-biggest business in the pawn broking sector, with 12% of the market.

Regionally, the report showed that the number of high street banks remained constant at 559 branches, while the number of pawnbrokers in the region jumped by 34 to 111 – making it the third-biggest British region for pawnbrokers. In some towns such as Bootle on Merseyside, there are half as many pawnbrokers as banks – four pawnbrokers to six banks, in Bootle’s case.

Bury and Stockport are both named among the top ten town for pawnbrokers’ shops in the UK, with five units each.

Matthew Hopkinson, Director at The Local Data Company said: “The growth and spread of pawnbrokers from being a side street ‘shadowy’ activity into a mainstream fast growing retailer is newsworthy.

“From membership of the BRC, to prime pitch presence across hundreds of towns and significant profits, this sector has shown how it can take advantage of a recession and turn it into a boom.”

Karen Bluff, director and head of retail at PwC in the North West, said: “A growing proportion of the population is not being provided with credit from the mainstream players, meaning that there are big opportunities for alternative providers of finance to step in and fill the gap.

“In some industries, when businesses close, capacity is taken out of the market. With retail, the business may go but the space remains – and businesses and economic models will reinvent themselves to take advantage.”