Buying the pub — a challenger-bank commercial mortgage
Written by Chris Canham, commercial finance broker with nearly 30 years in financial services. Last reviewed .
Owner-occupier pub purchase with Allica Bank
Deal at a glance
- Loan type
- Owner-occupier commercial mortgage
- Lender type
- Challenger bank
- Location
- Surrey
A real client transaction, anonymised. Client-identifying details have been removed; lender names and figures are shown where the client has agreed.
An established hospitality operator was buying the freehold of the Surrey pub their business trades from.
Pub purchases attract real underwriting scrutiny, and this one had all of it: an asbestos report that needed specialist commentary for the valuer, detailed source-of-deposit evidence, an informal rent arrangement that had to be explained and evidenced to the bank, and independent legal advice requirements for the guarantors.
A commercial mortgage was arranged with Allica Bank, working alongside a specialist packaging partner.
Each underwriting query was unblocked in turn — getting the asbestos position clarified with the valuer, evidencing the deposit trail, and walking the clients through the legal advice requirements.
Every underwriting query resolved and the purchase driven through to an agreed completion date.
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