Commercial Mortgages Reading
Sector-specialist · 60-70% LTV

Trading Business Mortgages Reading

Pubs, hotels, care homes, dental practices, MOT garages, day nurseries, B&Bs. Operational property where value is bound up with the business that runs from it. EBITDA-led underwriting plus sector-specific overlays, CQC, Ofsted, VOSA, NHS UDA, barrelage. LTVs 60 to 70%, interest rates 7.0 to 9.0% pa, 15 to 25 year repayment terms. Limited company structures supported.

LTV

60 to 70%

Rate

7.0 to 9.0% pa

Term

15 to 25 years

Facility

£250K to £5M

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What is a sector-specialist commercial mortgage?

Trading-business mortgages fund operational commercial property where the value is bound up with the business that runs from it. Unlike pure investment property, where the test is rent against mortgage cost, trading-business mortgages test EBITDA cover: the trading profit of the business covering the mortgage repayment, typically at 1.5 to 2.0x cover. Goodwill, brand, sector regulation and going-concern value all influence the lend.

Underwriting is sector-specific and depends entirely on the property type. Pubs: barrelage (volume of beer pulled), EBITDA, beer-tie status (free of tie pubs price keenest), license type, trading record. Hotels: occupancy, ADR (average daily rate), RevPAR, brand affiliation, location. Care homes: CQC rating, occupancy, weighted-average bed value, fee rates (council vs private mix). Dental practices: NHS UDA contract value, private fee mix, principal vs associate structure, surgery count. MOT and petrol: VOSA approval, turnover, environmental due diligence on the site. Day nurseries: Ofsted rating, registered places, occupancy, fee structure.

Loan-to-value runs 60 to 70% typically, lower than pure investment because the asset value is sector-locked and harder to repurpose if the business fails. Term 15 to 25 years; interest rates 7.0 to 9.0% pa reflecting the specialist underwrite. Different sub-sectors route to different lenders, and getting the right desk first time is the broker's entire job. Most trading-business mortgages are taken out by a limited company trading entity with personal guarantee from the operating principal, and most fall outside FCA-regulated mortgage rules because they finance business premises, not residential property.

Stamp duty land tax on a trading-business purchase follows commercial rates (0% to £150K, 2% to £250K, 5% above), and where a deal is structured as a share purchase of an existing operating limited company rather than an asset purchase, SDLT can be deferred or partly avoided. We work alongside the buyer's tax adviser on the structure before submission. Refinancing an existing trading-business mortgage (typically off a maturing 5-year fix) is a frequent reason to re-engage; current rate environment is creating refinancing demand particularly on care home and pub operator books.

Steps from sector review to specialist credit committee

1. Sector and trading review

Two years of accounts, current management figures, sector-specific data, CQC for care, Ofsted for nursery, VOSA for MOT, occupancy and ADR for hotel, barrelage for pub.

2. Specialist lender shortlist

Sector dictates lender. Care: Shawbrook, Cambridge & Counties, Hampshire Trust Bank. Pub: Cynergy Bank, ASK Partners. Dental: Hampshire Trust Bank, Allica health desk.

3. Indicative terms in 48 hours

Interest rate, loan-to-value, EBITDA cover requirement, repayment term, fees. From a clean enquiry only.

4. Sector-specific credit pack

CQC inspection report for care, Ofsted report for nursery, NHS UDA contract for dental, license and barrelage for pub. Cleaner pack = faster credit.

5. Specialist RICS valuation

Sector-accredited RICS valuer instructed by the lender. Critical-path item, typically 3 to 5 weeks.

6. Credit approval and completion

Specialist desks underwrite slower than mainstream commercial. Allow 6 to 10 weeks total from indicative to drawdown.

Operator profiles routing through this product

  • Pub and bar operators (Friar Street, King's Road, Caversham Church Street, Pangbourne and Goring RG8 destination gastropubs, Sonning and Twyford flank)
  • Hotel and B&B operators (Forbury boutique, station-flank corporate strip on Caversham Road, Madejski Stadium and Reading Gateway flank, Crowne Plaza Thames Valley Park)
  • Care home operators (Caversham RG4 and Caversham Heights, Tilehurst RG31, Maiden Erlegh and Lower Earley RG6 clusters)
  • Dental and GP practice principals (Royal Berkshire Hospital catchment, Caversham Church Street, Tilehurst Westwood Road, Woodley, Earley)
  • MOT garage and petrol forecourt owners (A4 Bath Road, A33 Basingstoke Road and A329 corridors)
  • Day nursery operators (Caversham, Tilehurst, Earley, Woodley)
  • Independent restaurant and gastropub operators
  • Veterinary practice principals acquiring multi-site groups

Sub-sector clusters and lender behaviour across the Thames Valley

Reading runs one of the most distinctive trading-business commercial mortgage flows in the South East. The Caversham, Caversham Heights, Tilehurst and Maiden Erlegh care home cluster (RG4, RG31, RG6) is a premium sub-market in its own right, with the private-pay catchment across the affluent suburban belt; Shawbrook, Cambridge & Counties and Hampshire Trust Bank all hold significant Thames Valley care-home books. The dental cluster adjacent to the Royal Berkshire Hospital catchment and across Caversham, Tilehurst and Woodley is similarly deep, Hampshire Trust Bank and Allica's health desk dominate. Pub trading-business deals (Friar Street RG1, King's Road RG1, Caversham Church Street RG4, plus the Pangbourne and Goring RG8 destination gastropub circuit) route through Cynergy Bank, ASK Partners and licensed-trade specialist desks, with Reading Festival weekend and Madejski Stadium / Reading FC hospitality flow worth noting. MOT and garage deals run primarily through Together, with environmental due diligence the additional underwrite step. Day nurseries cluster around Caversham, Tilehurst, Earley and Woodley, with Aldermore and Cambridge & Counties providing the core lender appetite. Hotel deals along the Caversham Road corporate strip, the station-flank corporate hotel cluster (Hilton, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Malmaison) and the Madejski Stadium flank route through specialist hospitality lenders.

Trading-Business Mortgage FAQs

Yes. Pub mortgages are typically structured at 60 to 65% loan-to-value, term 15 to 20 years, interest rate 7.0 to 9.0% pa. Lender appetite depends heavily on barrelage, beer-tie status, license category and your trading record. Cynergy Bank, ASK Partners and licensed-trade specialist desks dominate; the high-street commercial banks rarely engage on freehold pub purchases below £2M.
Generally Good or above on the most recent inspection. Requires Improvement can sometimes fund at tighter LTV (50 to 60%) and wider interest rate. Inadequate is unfundable on mainstream desks until the rating recovers, specialist private credit may engage at materially wider pricing.
Dental can route either way. Pure freehold purchase by the practice principal is normally placed as owner-occupier on EBITDA cover via Allica health desk or Cambridge & Counties. Larger dental groups buying multi-site portfolios route as trading-business with sector specialists like Hampshire Trust Bank. We choose based on facility size and group structure.
Typically 6 to 10 weeks from indicative to drawdown, longer than mainstream commercial because of sector-specific RICS valuation, regulatory due diligence (CQC, Ofsted, VOSA, NHS contract assignment) and sometimes environmental DD on MOT or petrol sites.
No, trading-business commercial mortgages finance business premises and sit outside the Financial Conduct Authority's regulated mortgage perimeter in all standard cases. They are not residential mortgages and are not consumer credit. We do not hold FCA authorisation because the products we arrange are unregulated; where a deal would require regulated permissions, we refer to a regulated firm.
Yes, refinancing volume is currently strong on care home and pub operator books taken out 2019 to 2021, where current valuations and stronger trading records support a meaningfully better LTV than the original draw. We model the ERC on the existing facility against the saving on the new interest rate before recommending the move. See our commercial remortgage page for the wider mechanics.

Other Development Finance Services

Owner-Occupier

Investment

Semi-Commercial

Portfolio Refinance

Remortgage

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