Property type: Pub & Bar
Pub and Bar Bridging Loans Brighton
We arrange bridging finance against pubs and bars across Brighton, from the seafront pubs along Kings Road through the Lanes and Kemptown to the suburban locals in Hove, Preston Park and the wider East Sussex pub estate. Loan sizes run £200,000 to £4 million, terms 6 to 18 months, completions in 10 to 21 days. Pub-and-bar bridging prices at 0.9 to 1.4% per month given the trading-asset profile.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £100k to £25m
- East Sussex specialists
The asset class
What pub & bar property looks like in East Sussex.
Pub and bar stock in this part of East Sussex splits into three groups. There are the destination food-led pubs and gastro venues in the Lanes, North Laine and along Hove seafront, which trade on tourism and resident-led flow. There are the wet-led suburban locals across Preston Park, Patcham, Withdean, Moulsecoomb and the outer Hove streets, which have seen the steepest closures across the last decade and are most likely to come up as change-of-use plays. And there are the Brighton bar venues, particularly along West Street, Ship Street and St James's Street in Kemptown, which trade on an independent-led, year-round late-night market. Each reads differently to a bridging lender. Trading-asset value, vacant possession value and alternative-use value can sit a long way apart.
Use cases
Bridging use cases for pub & bar assets.
Pub-and-bar bridging cases in this market cluster around four patterns. The first is free-of-tie acquisition where a buyer is purchasing a pub from a pub-co or from a retiring tenant, with the bridge funding the purchase pending refinance to term commercial debt with a pub-specialist lender. The second is change-of-use to residential, particularly on the wet-led suburban stock that no longer trades, where bridging funds the purchase plus the conversion works. The third is refurbishment-and-reposition cases where a tired pub is bought, brought up to current food-led standard, and refinanced once trading is rebased. The fourth is capital-raise against an unencumbered pub held by an established operator, often to fund the next acquisition or to release working capital. Across all four, the underwriting reads through to trading evidence, the operator's track record and the credibility of the exit at stabilised performance.
Brighton context
The Brighton Pub Estate, from the Lanes to the Suburban Local
Brighton has a denser pub estate per head than most equivalent South East cities, a function of its resort and student-and-creative-led population. The Lanes and North Laine carry a dense run of historic food-and-wet-led pubs trading on tourism and resident demand. Kemptown along St James's Street holds an independent bar cluster supported by a strong year-round LGBTQ+ and resident scene. West Street and Ship Street near the seafront run the late-night bar market. Suburban locals in Preston Park, Patcham, Withdean, Moulsecoomb, Coldean and the outer Hove streets have seen the steepest closures, with the most common exit being a change-of-use conversion to residential or small mixed-use. East Sussex-wide, the pub picture splits between the food-led country and market-town stock in Lewes, the South Downs, Forest Row, Uckfield and Rye, which trades firm, and the urban wet-led stock across Eastbourne and Hastings, which carries the same closure pressure as outer Brighton. Pub-specialist lenders read all of this and price accordingly. The destination food-led country pub in the South Downs reads as a different asset class to the closed suburban local on a Brighton side street, even though both fall under the same property type on a planning application.
Valuation and lenders
Valuation and lender considerations.
Pub-and-bar valuations come back on a trading-business basis for going-concern pubs, on a vacant-possession basis where trading is interrupted, and on an alternative-use basis where the conversion play drives the deal. Bridging lenders lend on the lower of the relevant figures. LTV caps sit at 55 to 65% on trading pubs with strong evidence, 50 to 60% on vacant or distressed stock, and 60 to 65% on as-is value where the case is a clear conversion play. MT Finance, Octane Capital, Hope Capital, United Trust Bank and Together all take pub-and-bar bridging, with Shawbrook, Cambridge & Counties and the pub-specialist team at OakNorth stronger at the larger end. Operator covenant, trading accounts and EPC position all drive the case.
What we arrange
What we typically arrange.
A typical pub-and-bar bridge sits at £350,000 to £1.5 million, 55 to 65% LTV, 9 to 15 months term, 0.9 to 1.3% per month, arrangement fee 1.5 to 2%. Conversion cases include a monitored works tranche. Exit is typically refinance to term commercial debt with a pub-specialist lender, sale to an operator, or sale of converted residential units on a change-of-use exit. Completion in 14 to 21 days is normal where the title and licence position are clean.
FAQs
Pub & Bar bridging questions
Can we bridge a pub purchase with conversion to residential planned?
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Yes, and this is one of the most common pub-and-bar cases in Brighton. The bridge funds the purchase at 60 to 65% of vacant-possession value plus a works tranche released against monitoring sign-off as the conversion progresses. We check the planning position up front with planning consultants familiar with Brighton and Hove City Council policy on community-pub designations and Asset of Community Value listings, which can affect the conversion route. The exit is typically refinance to BTL on retained units and open-market sale on disposed units.
How quickly can a free-of-tie pub purchase complete?
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Free-of-tie acquisitions from a pub-co or a retiring tenant typically complete in 14 to 21 days from offer. The binding constraints are usually the trading accounts, the licence-transfer position and the inventory schedule. Where trading evidence is good and the title is clean we can move faster. We work with licensing solicitors who handle the licence transfer in parallel with the property completion so the new operator can trade from day one.
What rate range applies to pub-and-bar bridging?
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Trading pubs with strong evidence, a clear refinance exit and a recognisable operator price at 0.9 to 1.1% per month at 55 to 65% LTV. Vacant or distressed stock prices 1.1 to 1.4% per month at 50 to 60% LTV. Conversion-led plays sit in the middle. Arrangement fees are 1.5 to 2%, with valuation and legal on both sides borrower-paid. Trading-business valuations cost more than vanilla property valuations and need to be factored into the deal cost.
Tell us about the deal
Indicative terms within 24 hours.
A short triage call, then a sized indicative offer against a named lender for your pub & bar property in Brighton or across East Sussex.
Regulated bridging on owner-occupied residential property falls under FCA regulation. Unregulated bridging on commercial and investment property does not. We are not directly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we introduce regulated cases to authorised partners who carry out the regulated activity.
Next step
Talk to a Brighton pub & bar bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on pub & bar property across Brighton, the Brighton and Hove unitary authority and the wider East Sussex market. Indicative terms in 24 hours.