A refurbishment is bought on the promise of better spend per head, and the whole point is that it should not swallow a season of cash to get there.
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Yes, although not usually as classic asset finance for the whole project. A bar fit-out is mostly joinery, counters, flooring, lighting and decoration, all of which become part of the building and cannot be recovered, so funders treat them as soft costs. The equipment within it — bottle coolers, glasswashers, ice machines, dispense — is fundable as assets. In practice a fit-out is funded either as a mixed facility where the equipment carries the soft costs, or as an unsecured business loan assessed on your trading.
Used kit: Rarely for the fit-out itself, since fitted joinery cannot be moved economically. Yes for the equipment within it, where coolers and glasswashers from dealers are perfectly fundable.
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Business asset finance is quoted on a flat rate, so that is what this shows — with the equivalent APR underneath, because the two are not the same number. A quick guide only; your actual rate depends on the asset, term, deposit and lender.
Representative example: on Hire Purchase, borrowing £25,000 over 48 months at a 6.0% flat rate (equivalent to 11.5% APR representative), you would repay around £646 a month; total amount repayable approximately £31,000, of which £6,000 is the cost of finance. This calculator is for illustration only — it is not a quote or an offer of finance, and the rate and repayments you are offered will depend on the asset, term, deposit and your circumstances. CW Asset Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender that funds your agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval. CW Asset Finance is an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701).
This is the softest end of hospitality funding. Fitted joinery, back bar shelving, counters and tiling are worth scrap value the moment they are installed, and a funder collecting them would spend more on labour than the timber is worth. So the lend is a credit decision, full stop: filed accounts, how long you have held the site, bank conduct, whether the premises are tied, and the director’s own position. The useful lever is the equipment. Gamko and Osborne bottle coolers, a Classeq glasswasher, a Hoshizaki ice machine and the cellar plant are all genuine assets, and a facility built around them can often carry a proportion of the fit-out alongside. Where the ratio is wrong, an unsecured loan is the honest answer rather than dressing a refit up as equipment finance.
Examples of the machines we are asked to fund. This is not an exhaustive list — if what you are buying is not here, it does not mean we cannot fund it. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.
| Machine | What it is |
|---|---|
| Gamko MaxiGlass bottle coolers | Glass-door under-bar bottle coolers |
| Osborne under-bar refrigeration | Back bar coolers and bottle units |
| IMC under-bar modules | Stainless wells, sinks and speed rails |
| Autonumis dispense equipment | Fonts, coolers and dispense pumps |
| Angram beer engines | Hand pulls for cask ale service |
| Classeq G500 Duo | Undercounter glasswasher for busy bars |
| Hoshizaki IM-130NE | Under-bar cube ice machine |
| Williams undercounter fridges | Refrigerated prep counters for bars |
| Polar back bar display coolers | Entry-level bottle display coolers |
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Licensees taking on a tired site and repositioning it, pub companies and independent operators doing a planned refurbishment cycle, and restaurants adding or rebuilding a bar to grow wet sales. The trigger is usually competitive or contractual: a new venue has opened nearby, or a pub company requires investment as a condition of a new agreement. Hotels rebuild lobby bars when the food and beverage offer is being repositioned.
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Bought on hire purchase, business plant and machinery normally qualifies for capital allowances on the full cost even though you pay for it monthly, which is a large part of why hire purchase is the common structure. On a finance lease you generally set the rentals against profit instead. The rules change between budgets and your position depends on how you trade, so treat this as the direction of travel and get your accountant to confirm the detail before you commit.
Because most of it is not an asset in the sense a funder means. Joinery, flooring, lighting and decoration become part of the building and cannot be recovered and sold, so there is no security behind the lend. Equipment can be funded on an agreement and the rest is assessed on your accounts, or funded as a business loan.
Yes, and it is often the best structure. Fund the coolers, glasswashers, ice machine and cellar plant on an asset agreement, where the security helps, and cover the joinery and decoration with a loan sized against turnover. Two facilities for two very different types of cost usually beats forcing everything down one route.
It affects the assessment rather than the availability. Tied operators have less control over margin, which underwriters take into account, and your agreement may restrict what you can alter or which equipment you can install. Check the terms with the pub company before you commit to a specification, not after the order is placed.
Frequently, yes, and that is exactly why funders treat it as soft. Landlord fixtures pass with the premises, and your lease may also require reinstatement. Read the alterations and dilapidations clauses before you spend, because they determine whether you are investing in your business or in someone else’s building.
It varies by funder and by how strong the rest of the invoice is. Where branded, recoverable equipment makes up the bulk of the order and your accounts are sound, a reasonable proportion of installation and fit-out can usually be carried. Where the equipment is a small part of a large refurbishment, the loan route is more realistic.
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Tell us what you’re looking to fund and Conor will come back to you personally — usually the same day.
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