A Milestone for Champions

• · The Money Shop celebrates 500^th store with Ronnie O’Sullivan, James Wade and Simon Whitlock

The Money Shop is preparing to give customers a sporting welcome during the opening of its 500^th UK store at 215 Telford Shopping Centre, in Thetford Chase, Telford, on Tuesday June 26, 2012.

Photo: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

Store staff will be joined by snooker world champion Ronnie “The Rocket” O’Sullivan and darts aces, world number three James Wade and world number six Simon Whitlock, to officially mark the opening of the financial services company’s 500^th store.

The players will be at the store from 2pm where members of the public will have the chance to meet Ronnie and play against Professional Darts Corporation players Simon and James in a challenge for the chance to win a set of branded darts.

To mark the 500^th store milestone, the first ten people to score a bullseye will receive a cash prize* and the highest scorer on the day will win £500.

Headed by store manager Kate Wall, the new Money Shop store will offer professional short-term financial solutions, including payday loans, pawnbroking, cash for gold, pre-paid cash cards and Western Union money transfers. The store will also offer a range of holiday money products and services including foreign exchange and holiday cash cards.

Photo: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

Kate said: “It’s a going to be a fantastic day with lots going on in-store and a great opportunity for our customers to meet some of the stars from the world of darts and snooker. We hope the celebrations will be a great opportunity to raise awareness about The Money Shop.”

Andrew Bryan, marketing director, UK, The Money Shop, said: “We are delighted to be opening our 500^th store in Telford. Reaching 500 stores is a huge milestone for us so it is fitting that we’re celebrating with not just one but three sporting pros and we hope that it will be a fun day for everyone.

“Managing finances is important at any time, but is especially hard in the current climate. The new store in Telford will offer a range of convenient short-term financial solutions including unsecured short-term loans, cheque cashing, secured pawnbroking loans, money transfer, foreign exchange, Titanium Cashplus prepaid Mastercard, and gold buying services.”

The Money Shop is a leading member of the Consumer Finance Association, which operates to maintain high standards of responsible lending across the short-term credit industry, and is licensed and regulated by the Office of Fair Trading.

The second European Tour event, which took place between Friday and Sunday in Berlin, saw plenty of highlights for MODUS before a brilliant Phil Taylor took victory in the German Darts Championship.

Photo: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

James Hubbard produced the shock of the weekend when he triumphed 6-4 over back-to-back World Champion Adrian Lewis in the first round on Friday.

The PDC Unicorn World Youth Champion went on to beat Peter Wright in round two, before missing out on a quarter-final spot when he was beaten by Mervyn King.

“The win against Adrian was the biggest of my professional career,” said Hubbard, who only joined the Pro-Tour in January.

“I had an excellent tournament and gave myself an outside chance of qualifying for the World Matchplay in Blackpool.

“I was pleased with how I played, apart from against Mervyn, but he is a great player and he has really helped my game so I don’t begrudge him the win.”

A last eight spot signalled a return to form for King, who enjoyed victories over Peter Hudson, Wayne Jones and Hubbard, before losing out to eventual runner-up Dave Chisnall.

Simon Whitlock put together a brilliant run to semi-finals, before being denied the chance to take on Taylor, in a repeat of the McCoy’s Premier League final, by Chisnall.

‘The Wizard’ began his campaign by whitewashing Daniel Starkey 6-0, before defeating Brendan Dolan in round two.

He then posted a brilliant average of 106.83 in a 6-2 third round success over Kevin Painter, before victory over Kim Huybrechts saw him reach the last four.

Raymond van Barneveld beat Mareno Michels, Alan Tabern and Mark Webster before meeting Taylor in the quarter-finals.

‘Barney’ ran ‘The Power’ closer than anyone, forcing a deciding leg in their quarter-final clash.

But Taylor snatched victory and left Berlin as a deserved winner, after posting multiple hundred-plus averages on the way to landing the £15,000 title.

By Chris Murphy

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