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Pawnbroker opens first Welsh store

0 Comments | South Wales Evening Post, May 19, 2010

THE UK’s largest independent pawnbroking business has opened its first outlet in Wales.

The Neath store of Ramsdens Financial is the first of several planned for South Wales in the coming weeks.

It will open another branch in Port Talbot in June as well as launching further outlets in Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff. As well as traditional pawnbroking, the chain sells, repairs, buys and values jewellery as well as offering cheque cashing, payday loans and foreign currency.

Ramsdens bought a Scottish group of jewellers in February last year and now has 16 outlets there out of its 59 nationwide.

The firm’s chief executive officer Peter Kenyon said: “This is proving to be a boom period for pawnbroking and gold buying which are our two main services.

“The reception we have received in Scotland over the last year has given us the confidence to expand into Wales where I am sure we will be equally welcomed, if not more so.”

The Neath shop, in Angel Street, will be managed by local woman Judith Ireland who will oversee two staff.

Ramsdens was founded in the North East of England by the father of its current executive chairman, Stewart Smith.

In September last year the company became the first high street pawnbroker to set up an online service in the UK.

Burglar filled suitcase with haul at flat

0 Comments | Evening Post; Bristol (UK), Jul 27, 2010

AN 18-YEAR-OLD burglar was caught on CCTV entering his victim’s flat with a suitcase to fill with DVDs and computer games, a court heard.

Ross Madden was living in Bristol Foyer in the city centre, which provides accommodation for homeless youngsters, when he burgled two other residents last year.

Madden, who now lives with his girlfriend in Ashley Down Road, admitted the offences at Bristol Crown Court yesterday.

He was given a community order with an 18-month supervision requirement 1 and ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work as well as programme requirements.

Richard Posner, prosecuting, told the court that the first incident took place in October.

A resident at Bristol Foyer had to give in his flat keys as a deposit for playing pool, and Madden got hold of the keys and used them to enter the flat and steal 50 DVDs, two games consoles and 20 games, worth about Pounds 1,000.

Madden was seen on CCTV in the block of flats entering the victim’s flat with a suitcase, and leaving with it a while later.

The second offence took place between December 12 and 16, when he burgled the home of a woman who had only been living at the Foyer for five weeks.

When she went away on holiday, Madden broke in by smashing a window on her balcony.

Mr Posner said he stole a novelty light, a stereo and a laptop, worth Pounds 1,200, and then vandalised her room by turning over her mattress, taking everything off her shelves and emptying moisturiser over the walls.

Timothy Rose, defending, said that other people had been involved with the burglary in December, and that Madden had not been the one to vandalise the room.

Mr Rose told the court that Madden had been an ambassador for Knightstone Housing, who runs the Foyer, but had fallen in with the wrong crowd.

He said: “He simply did not understand the impact of these offences on the victims or the seriousness of the offences and how they would be viewed in the criminal justice system.

“But this lesson has now been lear ned.”

Lemon and rosemary mackerel ; Recipe

0 Comments | Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England), July 24, 2010

INGREDIENTS: For the lemon and rosemary mackerel: 1tbsp good quality olive oil; 25g/1oz butter; 1 mackerel fillet, cut in half and skin scored with a sharp knife; 1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped; salt and freshly ground black pepper to season; 1 lemon, juice only. For the olive dressing: 100g/3′oz Kalamata olives, with stones removed; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil; handful of fresh basil leaves, to garnish METHOD: For the lemon and rosemary mackerel, heat the olive oil and butter in a frying pan until it is just sizzling.

Add the mackerel and sprinkle with rosemary, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fry for around two minutes on each side, until skin is crisp and the fish is cooked through