Property type: Leisure
Leisure Property Bridging Loans Dorset
We arrange bridging finance against leisure property across the Bournemouth seafront, Poole Quay, the Sandbanks peninsula, the Weymouth and Portland tourism belt, and the wider Jurassic Coast leisure market. Loan sizes run £250,000 to £10 million, terms from 6 to 18 months, completions in 10 to 21 days. Leisure bridging prices at 0.85 to 1.4% per month depending on trading position, refurbishment scope and the credibility of the exit.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £100k to £25m
- Dorset specialists
Dorset · Dorset
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What leisure property looks like in Dorset.
Leisure as an asset class covers hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and bars, gyms and health clubs, soft-play and indoor-leisure venues, and the small mixed hospitality-and-retail stock that lines the Bournemouth seafront, Poole Quay and the Weymouth Esplanade. Trading-business value drives most of these assets, which makes the underwriting more like specialist commercial lending than vanilla property bridging. Vacant possession value, the alternative-use figure and the going-concern value can all differ materially. Bridging lenders typically lend on the lower of vacant possession value and going-concern value, with a haircut where the trading position is weak or the asset is materially specialist.
Use cases
Bridging use cases for leisure assets.
Leisure bridging cases in this market sit in a tight set. We see purchases of small hotels and guesthouses along the Bournemouth East Cliff and West Cliff seafront and the Weymouth Esplanade, typically £600,000 to £2.5 million, where the buyer plans a refurbishment and a refinance to term commercial debt once trading is rebased. We see purchases of restaurant and bar units coming out of administration where speed of completion is the price of getting the deal. We see capital-raises against unencumbered leisure assets held by long-term operators, often to fund the deposit for the next acquisition. We see change-of-use plays where a tired leisure unit is bought, converted to residential or mixed-use, and exited to refinance or sale. And we see development-exit cases on small coastal-leisure schemes where practical completion is reached and the bridge refinances the development facility while units sell out. Across all of these, lenders care about trading evidence, the operator's track record, and the exit. A vague trading projection kills more leisure bridges than any building issue.
Dorset context
Coastal Leisure Across the Jurassic Coast and the BCP Seafront
Dorset leisure trades on a coastal-tourism base that is materially stronger than most equivalent UK counties. The Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site stretches from Studland east of Swanage through to Lyme Regis at the Devon border, and visitor flow across that geography supports a dense run of small hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and self-catering operators. The Bournemouth seafront, from Boscombe Pier through to Alum Chine and Branksome Chine, carries a year-round hotel and guesthouse stock supported by conference trade, family summer visitors and the wider AFC Bournemouth match-day economy. Poole Quay runs a tighter cluster of food-and-beverage and leisure stock serving the harbour-view trade and the cross-channel ferry passenger flow to France and the Channel Islands. The Sandbanks peninsula sits at the higher end, with hotel and restaurant stock supporting the £2m-plus residential value tone. Weymouth seafront carries traditional bucket-and-spade summer trade plus a year-round residential population, with the Pavilion and Esplanade anchoring the leisure offer. Beyond the seafront, the Purbeck cottage market, the Sherborne and Shaftesbury market-town hospitality scene, and the Hardy-country country-pub belt around Dorchester all carry their own trading dynamics. Bridging lenders read all of this. Coastal leisure with a clear seasonality pattern, recognisable trading history and a credible operator behind the wheel sits comfortably at 60 to 65% LTV.
Valuation and lenders
Valuation and lender considerations.
Leisure valuations come back on a trading-business basis where the asset is going concern, and on a vacant-possession-with-alternative-use basis where trading is weak or interrupted. Bridging lenders typically lend on the lower figure with an additional haircut. LTV caps sit at 55 to 65% on most leisure cases, with the higher end reserved for hotels with strong trading evidence and the lower end for specialist or single-use leisure. MT Finance, Octane Capital, Hope Capital, United Trust Bank and Together all take leisure on bridging, with Shawbrook, Cambridge & Counties and OakNorth stronger on hotels and the larger end of the market. Trading accounts, RevPAR data for hotels and a clear operator narrative all help the case clear underwriting.
What we arrange
What we typically arrange.
A typical leisure bridge sits at £500,000 to £3 million, 55 to 65% LTV, 9 to 18 months term, 0.85 to 1.3% per month, arrangement fee 1.5 to 2%. Hotels and guesthouses price softer than specialist single-use leisure. Refurbishment cases include a monitored works tranche. Exit is typically refinance to term commercial debt, sale to a trading operator, or change-of-use exit to residential where the planning supports it. Completion in 14 to 21 days is normal; auction-style speed is achievable with title insurance.
FAQs
Leisure bridging questions
Can we bridge a small hotel purchase on the Bournemouth seafront?
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Yes. Small hotel and guesthouse purchases along the Bournemouth East Cliff and West Cliff seafront are a regular part of the leisure book. Lenders need trading accounts for the last two to three years where the business has been operating, a clear refurbishment and trading plan, and a credible refinance exit at stabilised income. Loans typically run 60 to 65% LTV on the lower of vacant possession value and going-concern value, with the works tranche released against monitoring sign-off. Refinance to term commercial debt is the most common exit at 12 to 15 months.
How do bridging lenders treat restaurant or bar purchases coming out of administration?
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Speed is usually the binding constraint and bridging is built for it. We have completed restaurant and bar purchases in 7 to 14 days from offer where the title is clean and title insurance is available. Lenders lend against the lower of vacant possession value and any defensible going-concern figure, with an extra haircut where trading has been interrupted. LTV typically caps at 55 to 60% on these cases. The exit is usually a sale to an operator or a refinance once the business is re-established and trading.
Does coastal-leisure benefit from holiday-let demand across Dorset?
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Yes. The Dorset coast from Christchurch and Mudeford east through Bournemouth, Poole, Swanage, Studland, Weymouth and out to Lyme Regis carries a strong short-let and holiday-let market driven by Jurassic Coast visitor flow. Self-catering apartment buildings, small guesthouses and holiday-cottage portfolios all see bridging cases. The underwriting reads more like residential-investment than going-concern leisure for the smaller stock, with rental evidence drawn from Sykes Cottages, Holiday Cottages and Airbnb performance data. LTV typically caps at 65% on this sub-segment.
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 leisure property in Dorset or across Dorset.
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 Dorset leisure bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on leisure property across Dorset, the Dorset Council and BCP Council unitary areas and the wider Dorset market. Indicative terms in 24 hours.