Property type: Pub & Bar
Pub and Bar Bridging Loans Sussex
We arrange bridging finance against pubs and bars across Sussex, from the dense Brighton bar scene through the Lewes brewery-town pubs, the South Downs gastropub belt and the Chichester PO19 city-centre stock to the wider East and West 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
- £150k to £25m
- Sussex bridging desk
Sussex · Sussex
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What pub & bar property looks like in Sussex.
Pub and bar stock across Sussex splits into four groups. There are the destination food-led country pubs across the South Downs, the High Weald and the Sussex hinterland, which trade on weekend and short-break visitor flow and a year-round local catchment. There are the brewery-town pubs around Lewes, home to Harvey's Brewery, where heritage and a strong local independent market keep occupancy and tone firm. There are the urban Brighton bar venues across BN1 and BN2, particularly around West Street, the Lanes, North Laine and the Old Steine, which trade on year-round late-night, tourism and student-and-graduate demand. And there are the suburban locals across Hove, Worthing, Eastbourne, Hastings, Crawley, Horsham and the smaller towns, which have seen the steepest closures across the last decade and are most likely to come up as change-of-use plays. 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 Sussex 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 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.
Sussex context
The Sussex Pub Estate, from Brighton Late-Night to South Downs Gastropub
Sussex has a denser and more varied pub estate per head than most equivalent South East counties. Brighton BN1 and BN2 carry one of the strongest urban bar markets outside London, with the Lanes, North Laine, the Old Steine and the seafront running a year-round late-night, food-and-beverage and tourism trade. Hove BN3 carries a quieter but stable food-led local market. Lewes BN7 reads as a heritage brewery town with Harvey's Brewery anchoring a strong independent pub culture; pub stock here holds value well. The South Downs National Park runs a destination gastropub belt across villages from Amberley and Houghton through Cuckmere and Ditchling, trading on weekend visitor flow and a discerning food market. Chichester PO19 city-centre carries a tighter, higher-end food-and-beverage scene that benefits from the Festival of Speed and Revival spike at Goodwood and the year-round Cathedral and professional-services catchment. Hastings TN34 Old Town carries an independent-led food-and-beverage scene that has lifted with the regen story. Beyond these locations, the suburban locals across Worthing, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Crawley, Horsham and Bognor Regis have seen the steepest closures, with the most common exit being a change-of-use conversion to residential or small mixed-use. Pub-specialist lenders read all of this and price accordingly.
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 Sussex. 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 the relevant council policy on community-pub designations and Asset of Community Value listings, which can affect the conversion route, particularly in parts of Brighton & Hove and Lewes District. 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 Sussex or across 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 Sussex pub & bar bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on pub & bar property across Sussex, covering East Sussex Council, West Sussex Council and the Brighton & Hove unitary area. Indicative terms in 24 hours.