Pub funding: finance for UK pubs, bars and clubs
Pubs come to us for refurbishments, kitchen or cellar equipment, working capital to get through the quiet months and, occasionally, buying their freehold. Because pub revenue is now heavily card-based, lenders can read a pub’s trading directly from its merchant statements, which suits products whose repayments track card takings.
Which route tends to fit which need, and what lenders weigh up when a pub applies, follows below. We work with UK limited companies, LLPs, sole traders and partnerships.
What do pubs typically fund?
Refurbishments lead, because in a pub the room is the product: gardens, kitchens, letting rooms and general refits all change what the site can earn. After that come equipment (cellar cooling, kitchen lines, glasswashers), stock and staffing ahead of peak trading, and working capital across January and February. Tenants approaching a lease renewal or an assignment sometimes fund the associated costs; free-of-tie operators occasionally look at buying their freehold, which is commercial mortgage territory rather than short-term funding.
| Need | Route that usually fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Refurbishment or garden build | Term loan or refurbishment funding | Repaid over the years the improvement earns |
| Cellar, kitchen or bar equipment | Asset finance or equipment funding | Spread over the equipment’s working life |
| Quiet-season working capital | Merchant cash advance | Repayments are a share of card takings, so quiet weeks cost less |
| Stock and staff before peak season | Working capital facility | Short-term, sized to the season |
| Buying the freehold | Commercial mortgage | Long-term borrowing secured on the property |
How do lenders look at a pub?
Lenders work from recent card takings and bank statements, alongside time trading. The seasonal shape of pub revenue is not a problem in itself; lenders who fund hospitality expect the January dip and the December peak, and card-sales-based products absorb that shape by design. What weakens an application is the same as in any sector: erratic banking, returned payments, and tax arrears.
Tied tenants should factor the tie into any plan a lender will see. A funding application built on margins the tie does not allow invites questions; one built on the pub’s actual accounts, tie included, reads as credible. Leasehold operators should also expect questions about remaining lease length when borrowing for improvements to the site.
How deep is the panel for a pub?
Sector appetite is the first thing that thins a list, and pubs thin it more than most. 20 of our commercial mortgage lenders will lend against a public house, against 31 for leisure premises generally and 34 for retail (checked September 2026). That gap is not about pub trading being weaker. It is about the resale market for a building that was designed to be a pub.
Equipment is an easier conversation. 20 of our asset lenders fund restaurant and bar equipment, 25 will defer the VAT on the purchase so the tax is not funded up front, and 15 will look at second-hand kit, which matters when a cellar cooling unit is bought from a closing site rather than a dealer (checked September 2026).
On unsecured borrowing for a refit or a quiet quarter, the panel at £50,000 runs to 47 lenders over terms from 1 to 120 months, with published rates spanning 4.1% to 70.8% and a median floor of 17% (checked September 2026). 24 of the 55 unsecured lenders accept minor adverse credit older than 24 months. Those are panel spans across products, not an offer, and composition changes with every pull.
The three shapes a pub borrows in
Shape one is the building: a garden build, a kitchen where the storeroom was, letting rooms upstairs. Almost none of that spend can be taken back by a funder, so it is lent against the trading account rather than against the works. At £50,000 unsecured, 47 lenders on our panel have a product covering the amount, over terms of 1 to 120 months, and at £100,000 it is 45 lenders with a median published floor of 15.3% (checked September 2026). Fixed fittings that appear on a single invoice, a new bar counter or a servery, can sometimes go through asset finance instead, where 22 lenders publish appetite for shop and office fit-out.
Shape two is the kit: cellar cooling, an ice machine, a kitchen line, a glasswasher. The funder keeps title until the final payment, which is why this shape tolerates a thinner file than the first. 20 of our asset lenders fund restaurant and bar equipment, 25 will defer the VAT so the tax is not borrowed alongside the machine, and 14 accept business adverse credit on an asset deal (checked September 2026). A cooler bought from a site that has shut is a used-asset case, and 15 lenders publish appetite for older machinery.
Shape three is the gap between the Christmas takings and the March rent. This is the merchant cash advance's territory, because repayment is a fixed share of every card transaction and a dead Tuesday in February costs less than a Saturday in December. A pub that still takes a fair amount of cash can use a short unsecured facility for the same job: at £10,000, 30 lenders cover the amount and the shortest published term is 1 month. What we are asked to unpick most often is a five-year refurbishment loan taken out to survive one quiet quarter, and the fix is to match the shape to the need before anything is signed.
What the panel data does and does not count for a pub
Pubs are one of the few trades our platform records as a sector in its own right, so the 20 figure counts commercial mortgage lenders whose published criteria include public houses, out of 45 in that category. It measures appetite for the premises and nothing else. The equipment counts come from a separate asset-class list, the amount bands from unsecured product limits, and none of the three knows whether a house is tied, free of tie or managed. Bars and clubs sit under the leisure heading (31 lenders), a wider net than the pub one. Every count is from the September 2026 pull of available products, and panel composition changes with each pull.
The pub trade in numbers, and what the rates bill did in April 2026
The ONS counted 36,115 VAT or PAYE registered enterprises in beverage serving activities, its class for pubs and bars, in the UK at March 2025. The British Beer and Pub Association puts the number of pubs at 44,650 for 2025, 350 fewer than in 2024 and down from 60,800 in 2000, on figures the Morning Advertiser reported on 6 May 2026. The two numbers differ because one counts businesses and the other counts sites; a pub company with 200 houses is a single enterprise. Both are worth keeping in mind when a lender describes the sector as shrinking, because the enterprise count is dominated by very small operators and the site count by the groups.
Business rates moved in the pub's favour on 1 April 2026. In England, qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure premises with a rateable value under £51,000 now pay a 38.2p multiplier, and those between £51,000 and £499,999 pay 43p, each 5p below the equivalent standard figure. That replaced the 40% relief of 2025/26, which was capped at £110,000 per business. Pubs and live music venues receive a further 15% relief on top for 2026/27 (gov.uk guidance updated 30 March 2026, read 9 September 2026). A cash flow forecast that still carries the old rates line will be spotted by an underwriter, and the corrected one is the stronger document.
Funding a refurbishment without closing the doors
Refurbishment plans stand or fall on the closure period, so lenders and sensible operators plan the borrowing around it. Points worth settling before applying: how long the site is dark or partially closed, what that does to the takings the repayments come from, and whether the work is phased so part of the pub keeps trading. A repayment schedule that assumes normal takings through a six-week closure is the kind of plan that causes trouble later, and it is the first thing to sanity-check in any quote you receive.
The panel behind this page
Through our broker network we place cases with a panel of 200+ UK lenders offering 1,800+ products, from high-street banks to specialist funds. Where the plan involves buying or refinancing the premises, 20 of our commercial mortgage lenders lend against public houses, and that now includes high-street lenders willing to lend against the value of the trading business rather than the bricks alone (checked September 2026; panel composition changes over time). We check criteria first and approach only the lenders whose requirements you fit. The full roster, category by category, is published in our lender directory.
Frequently asked questions
Can a wet-led pub get funding without food revenue?
Yes. Lenders assess the takings the business actually has, and card-heavy wet sales are verifiable revenue. What matters is consistency over recent months and a sensible purpose for the money, not the wet/dry split by itself.
Can a tenant of a tied pub get business funding?
Tied tenants can and do access funding; the tie itself does not block an application. Lenders will expect the numbers in the application to reflect the tie’s effect on margins, and borrowing for major works on a leased site will raise questions about the lease terms and remaining length, so have those details ready.
What is the best way to fund a pub refurbishment?
It depends on scale and closure time. Larger refits are usually term borrowing repaid over the years the improvement earns; smaller works sometimes suit shorter facilities. Whichever route, the repayment plan should be tested against the closure period rather than against normal trading, and any quote should state the total cost as a single figure.
Can I get a business loan for a pub?
Yes, and the amount decides the field. At £25,000 unsecured, 36 lenders on our panel have a product covering it, rising to 47 at £50,000, over terms from 1 to 120 months (checked September 2026). Twelve months of card and bank statements, with the December peak and the February dip both visible, is the file that gets the fullest read.
What deposit does buying a pub freehold need?
Across our 45 commercial mortgage lenders the median maximum loan to value is 75%, which implies a deposit around a quarter of the price, and only 20 of those lenders publish appetite for public houses at all (checked September 2026). A trading pub is valued twice, once with the business in it and once empty, and the lender lends against whichever figure its policy names.
Can I finance the pub kitchen equipment on its own?
That is the shape most likely to be approved. 20 asset lenders fund restaurant and bar equipment, 25 defer the VAT and 19 will fund kit for a business that showed a loss last year, because the ovens and the cooling are the security (checked September 2026). Enquiring does not affect your credit score.
Does a pub need a year of trading before it can borrow?
Not always. 21 of our 55 unsecured lenders will look at a business trading under 12 months and 5 at a genuine start-up, checked September 2026. A new tenant taking over a house with years of trading behind it is a stronger case than the raw age suggests, and UK limited companies, LLPs, sole traders and partnerships can all enquire.
Is CapExpand FCA regulated?
CapExpand Ltd is not directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630772). That appointment means White Rose Finance Group Limited is responsible for our credit broking, and both firms appear on the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk. We are a credit broker, not a lender.
Sources
Sector figures read on 9 September 2026. Panel counts were checked September 2026, available products only, and describe the panel rather than an offer.
- ONS: UK business, activity, size and location 2025 (enterprises by SIC class, March 2025)
- Morning Advertiser: BBPA pub numbers 2000 to 2025, 6 May 2026
- Gov.uk: business rates multipliers for qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure properties
- Gov.uk: Budget 2025 retail, hospitality and leisure factsheet
- House of Commons Library: hospitality statistics and policy, 10 February 2026
See what your pub could access
3-minute form, and enquiring does not affect your credit score. Reviewed by a named case handler who knows hospitality.
You speak to a person who looks at your numbers; nothing is submitted anywhere until you say so.
CapExpand Ltd · Company No. 14433858 · ICO ZB789649 · Annesley, Nottingham