Property type: Pub & Bar
Pub Bridging Loans Plymouth
We arrange bridging finance against pubs and bars across Plymouth, from the Barbican old quarter waterside pubs through Mutley Plain and the city centre stock to the suburban locals in Stoke, Keyham, Plympton and the wider Devon 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
- Devon specialists
Plymouth · Devon
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What pub & bar property looks like in Devon.
Pub and bar stock in this part of Devon splits into three groups. There are the destination food-led and heritage pubs in the Barbican old quarter, around Sutton Harbour and at the Royal William Yard, which trade on tourism and waterfront flow. There are the wet-led and student-leaning bars and pubs along Mutley Plain and into North Hill, which trade on University of Plymouth term-time footfall and the broader young-professional market. And there are the suburban locals across Stoke, Keyham, Devonport, Plympton, Plymstock and the older inner suburbs, 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 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.
Plymouth context
The Plymouth Pub Estate, from Barbican Heritage to Mutley Plain
Plymouth has a denser pub estate per head than most equivalent South West cities, an accident of its naval-port history. The Barbican old quarter at Sutton Harbour carries the city's heritage pub stock, with several historic licensed houses dating to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries trading on tourism, the working fishing harbour and the wider Mayflower Steps draw. The Royal William Yard at Stonehouse, the former Royal Navy victualling yard, hosts a smaller cluster of food-and-beverage operators including pubs and bars that draw a destination weekend market. Mutley Plain in the inner suburbs carries the densest run of urban wet-led and food-led pubs in the city, anchored by the student-and-young-professional catchment from the University of Plymouth campus a short walk away. The city centre core around Drake Circus and Royal Parade carries chain hospitality alongside smaller independents. Suburban locals in Stoke, Keyham, Devonport, Cattedown, Plympton and across the wider Plymouth unitary authority have seen the steepest closures, with the most common exit being a change-of-use conversion to residential or small mixed-use. Devon-wide, the pub picture splits between the food-led country and market-town stock in Tavistock, Totnes, Dartmouth and the moor-edge villages, which trades firm, and the urban wet-led stock across Exeter, Torquay and Paignton, which carries the same closure pressure as Plymouth. 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 and Together both take pub-and-bar bridging across the South West, 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 Plymouth pub-and-bar bridge sits at £300,000 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 Plymouth. 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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth or across Devon.
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 Plymouth pub & bar bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on pub & bar property across Plymouth, the City of Portsmouth unitary authority and the wider Devon market. Indicative terms in 24 hours.