Duncan Bannatyne, the straight-talking Scottish entrepreneur and star of TV’s “Dragons’ Den” has been talking about how his business has been affected by the credit crunch.

“My businesses are up from last year, so we’re doing well and most small businesses I speak to are still actually doing quite well,” he told Digital Spy in an interview ahead of the launch of his new BBC2 show “Beat the Bank” on Thursday.

“But I have wanted to borrow more money to invest in more health clubs and it’s proving very difficult. Banks want huge amounts of interest, personal commitments and guarantees. I’m in the middle of a deal at the moment, which I’m just weighing up whether to go in or pull out.”

His advice for people struggling in the current economic climate: “I think there’s two options. All those people who can pay their bills should make sure they’re up to date, get rid of as much debt as they can and reduce their spending where they can. However, anyone with a bit of spare cash who’s willing to invest, it’s bargain basement time. You should get out there now and make some investments.”

At the root of the credit crisis was the large number of banks,  the Dragons’ Den star says.

“There were just too many banks. Banks were passing money around each other and one day it was always going to run out. If there were as many supermarkets on the high street as there are banks, then we’d run out of fresh vegetables. It was as simple as that. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen it, but I did comment three years ago that there were an awful lot of people about making huge amounts of money from transferring other people’s cash around on commission. It just never seemed right to me.”

In “Beat the Bank”, Bannatyne takes a young couple from the general public and asks them if they want to leave their money in the bank or take a risk with it.  He introduces them to experts: one in antiques, one in art, one in wine. These experts claim that if you give them £10,000, you can get a much better rate than from a bank. ” I remind the couple that there are risks involved and it’s left for them to decide what to do,” said Bannatyne.