Pub and Restaurant Commercial Mortgages Bournemouth

Underwriting a Bournemouth pub or restaurant commercial mortgage

The Bournemouth pub and restaurant estate clusters across four practical pitches. Old Christchurch Road (BH1) carries the densest casual-dining and bar-led restaurant strip in the town centre, with the spine running east from The Square towards Lansdowne. Westover Road and Pier Approach (BH1, BH2) covers the seafront and theatre-district F&B, mixed bar, restaurant and hotel-bar trade leaning on the BIC conference economy and seasonal leisure footfall. Westbourne and Southbourne (BH4, BH6) runs the western and eastern district pub and restaurant pitches, predominantly food-led on the back of an affluent residential catchment. Boscombe parade (BH5) picks up the regenerating coastal pub-and-restaurant cluster around Boscombe Spa Village.

Trading-business underwriting tests EBITDA cover at 1.5 to 2.0x. Lenders read wet-versus-food mix, operator experience, two-year trading accounts and the food-hygiene rating. Food-led restaurants and gastropubs (over 60% food revenue) sit firmly inside mainstream appetite; pure wet-led pubs without food revenue have a thinner panel and price 50 to 100bps wider. Freehold transactions are materially easier than leasehold, the lender wants the building as primary security and treats leasehold goodwill purchase as a parallel risk.

Worked example: an Old Christchurch Road 90-cover Italian restaurant with two-year trading at £1.05M revenue and £165K adjusted EBITDA, freehold purchase at £825K. Loan request 60% LTV (£495K). EBITDA cover at 1.65x on a 8.25% pa stressed rate clears comfortably; Cynergy Bank, Allica Bank and Hodge compete at 7.75 to 8.5% pa. Worked example two: a Westbourne gastropub freehold purchase, owner-occupier with previous-trade evidence but no clean accounts on the target site, two-year forecast attached. Loan sized at 55% LTV; routes to Shawbrook, Cynergy Bank or Together at 8.5 to 9.0% pa with a capex tranche if refurbishment is part of the plan.

For pubs with a tied operator lease or pub-co ties, see the trading-business notes below. For pub-with-flat-above archetypes (very common across Westbourne and Southbourne), the residential element typically prices the deal more favourably; see the semi-commercial page.

Finance structures for Bournemouth pubs and restaurants

Most pub and restaurant deals route as owner-occupier trading-business mortgages on EBITDA cover. Investment-let pubs (hands-off lease to an operator) underwrite on ICR with operator-covenant fully diligenced. Pubco-tied arrangements are treated as more complex and price wider.

Lender appetite for Bournemouth pubs and restaurants

<strong>Cynergy Bank</strong> runs one of the most active hospitality desks on the panel and competes hard on both pub and restaurant freehold owner-occupier deals at 65% LTV and 7.75 to 8.5% pa. Allica Bank is comfortable on food-led restaurants and gastropubs with two years of clean trading at 7.5 to 8.25% pa. Hodge takes the BCP coastal F&B book actively. <strong>Shawbrook</strong> is selective, food-led only typically. <strong>Lloyds</strong>, <strong>NatWest</strong> and <strong>Barclays</strong> compete on the larger-facility prime restaurant and gastropub deals with strong covenant and trading history at 7.0 to 8.0% pa. Wet-led pubs without food revenue have a thinner panel and price 50 to 100bps wider; Together, <strong>Cynergy Bank</strong> and specialist pub lenders absorb that profile. First-time operators cap at 55% LTV and route to <strong>Cynergy Bank</strong>, Together or <strong>Shawbrook</strong> with a capex tranche where refurbishment is needed.