AN ABINGDON couple are hoping diamond rings will make their family business sparkle.

Tho-Thanh Nguyen, known as TT and wife Cindy recently opened a jewellery store in Abingdon using a £142,000 business bank loan.

The pair are confident they can grow the business and eventually hire more staff.

But the move almost never happened, after several banks refused to lend them the cash needed to buy their new premises.

TT, who has run a jewellery business elsewhere for 14 years, said: “I tried all the High Street banks including HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and Halifax with no luck.

“None of them are geared up for supporting small businesses.”

He added: “Despite the adverts banks run on TV, which show them helping people to get their own business off the ground, it doesn’t match the reality.”

Using savings and cash borrowed from family, TT and Cindy raised almost £140,000 but needed a bank to lend them a similar amount.

TT pointed out: “It came across as a complete lack of understanding as to how small business operates.”

Although Barclays offered to lend them £90,000, it wasn’t enough.

Fortunately NatWest offered them £142,000, spread over 20 years and fixed at just under 4 per cent for the first three years.

But the couple’s experience of being turned down for a loan is typical.

A new Bank of England report confirms one in three firms are investing too little but two out of three businesses faced obstacles when trying to raise cash.

And a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills report published in May warned just four banks dominate 80 per cent of lending.

Abdul Sadek, NatWest relationship manager at Botley branch said: “Often, the main issue for customers is they don’t feel their bank is approachable, or the manager does not take time to understand them and their business.”

He added: “We look for customers who do their own homework and take time to conduct research, before approaching us for finance.

“TT had his business plan and financial information prepared.

“From this, we could see he was already paying rent for his previous premises, so taking a common sense approach we assessed he could be paying less for a new unit.”

Competition from other jewellery shops and online is a concern for TT and Cindy but they are upbeat.

TT admitted: “It’s very tough but we believe there is a niche for us.

He added: “People tell us when they buy from online sites, it doesn’t always turn out to be what they expected.

“When it comes to buying something special like a diamond ring, they want to see and touch it.”