When it comes to buying jewellery, a great deal rests on trust. The age of a stone, the hand that set it, a repair made quietly forty years ago; much of it cannot be checked simply by looking, and so it rests instead on the word of the jeweller standing in front of you.
That is why the little crest on this website matters more than it might appear. Banwells is a member of the National Association of Jewellers and membership is a badge worn proudly. It carries obligations, and they are public.
Who are the National Association of Jewellers?
The association is the trade body for the whole of the UK jewellery sector, from single independent shops like ours to designers, makers, suppliers and valuers. It was formed in 2015, when the British Jewellers’ Association and the National Association of Goldsmiths came together as one body, and it now speaks for around seventeen hundred member companies, employing more than twenty seven thousand people.
What does membership actually ask of us?
Every member signs the association’s Code of Conduct, built on three words: honesty, integrity and professionalism. In practice it asks us to describe everything we sell fully and accurately, to avoid any practice that might mislead, to source responsibly, and to deal with any concern promptly and fairly.
And if something were to go wrong?
This is the part we think matters most. Should a problem ever arise that we could not put right between us, the association offers its own resolution service, and members agree in advance to take part and to abide by the outcome. You are not left relying on our good word alone.
What does it mean day to day at Banwells?
So much of our collection is antique or previously owned that honest description is not a formality here; it is the work itself. A date, a replaced clasp, an earlier resizing: these are things you should hear from us before you buy, not discover years later. The same holds in the workshop, where restoration and repair are done to a standard we are content to be judged on, and in the valuations we prepare.
County House has been the home of trusted, family run jewellers since 1902 and at Banwells we continue to honour that legacy. The association did not create the care we take; it holds us publicly to it, and it gives you somewhere independent to turn should we ever fall short.
You are always welcome to come and see us at County House on New Street, whether you are buying, or simply want a piece looked over. And if you would like to read the association’s customer charter for yourself, you can find it here.