Property type: Leisure
Leisure Property Bridging Loans Wiltshire
We arrange bridging finance against leisure property across Wiltshire, from the heritage-tourism hotels around Stonehenge and Avebury through the country-house and event venues at Longleat, Wilton House and the Marlborough Downs, the Salisbury cathedral-and-Magna-Carta tourism core, the Bradford-on-Avon canalside cluster, and the gym, health-club and indoor-leisure stock in Swindon, Chippenham and Trowbridge. Loan sizes run £250,000 to £10 million, terms from 6 to 18 months, completions in 10 to 21 days. Leisure bridging across Wiltshire 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
- Wiltshire specialists
Wiltshire · Wiltshire
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What leisure property looks like in Wiltshire.
Leisure as an asset class covers hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and bars, gyms and health clubs, soft-play and indoor-leisure venues, country-house event venues, and the small mixed hospitality-and-retail stock that lines the historic high streets of Salisbury, Marlborough, Devizes and Bradford-on-Avon. 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 across Wiltshire sit in a tight set. We see purchases of small hotels and country pubs around Marlborough, Devizes, Salisbury and the Vale of Pewsey, 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 heritage-and-tourism 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.
Wiltshire context
Heritage Tourism, Stonehenge, Avebury and the North Wessex Downs
Wiltshire leisure trades on a heritage-and-landscape tourism base that is materially stronger than most equivalent South West counties. The Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Avebury stone circle and Silbury Hill, together with the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, draw a steady visitor flow across the calendar that supports a dense run of small hotels, country inns and self-catering accommodation. Salisbury Cathedral, with its Magna Carta exhibition and the cathedral close, anchors the cathedral-city heritage market. Marlborough College town carries a steady visitor flow around the school calendar plus a busy independent-led high-street hospitality scene. Bradford-on-Avon trades on its canalside heritage tourism and the Kennet and Avon Canal route. Castle Combe, just over the Cotswolds line at the north of the county, sits as one of the most photographed villages in England and supports a high-value hospitality micro-market. Longleat at Warminster runs as a year-round destination attraction supporting hotels and self-catering across south Wiltshire. Bridging lenders read all of this. Heritage-tourism 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 across Wiltshire 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 country inns 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 or country-inn purchase in Wiltshire?
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Yes. Small hotel and country-inn purchases around Marlborough, the Vale of Pewsey, Stonehenge and the wider Wiltshire tourism geography 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 the Stonehenge and Avebury tourism flow help bridging cases?
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Yes. The UNESCO World Heritage Site recognition for Stonehenge and Avebury anchors a year-round visitor flow that supports a steady occupancy on local hotels, B&Bs and self-catering stock. Lenders read recognised tourism-anchor evidence positively for both bridging and exit refinance purposes. Cases backed by trading evidence from a stable visitor catchment, plus a clear refurbishment or repositioning plan, price softer than equivalent leisure stock in thinner sub-markets.
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 Wiltshire or across Wiltshire.
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 Wiltshire leisure bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on leisure property across Wiltshire, from Salisbury and Swindon out to the west Wiltshire market towns. Indicative terms in 24 hours.