Pub and bar property finance

Ardent Capital Group brings the same method to every client: execution and strategy, clear advice for smart lending, and long-term growth. That means the right lender, structure and timing, straight advice so you borrow with confidence, and today's deal built toward where you want to be tomorrow. We are specialists in helping business owners secure finance to purchase their own property, and we understand the complex structures that often sit around it, including multiple trusts, holding companies and self-managed super funds. A pub reaches a lender genuinely comfortable with hospitality trade, one who can read how the freehold, the licence and the going concern each move the numbers and how to time settlement around the licence transfer. A well-bought freehold pub is both a home for the trade and an asset in its own right, and we stay on as you build the venue or add the next one. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

A freehold going concern means the land, the building, the trading business and the liquor licence are sold together as a single asset. It is how most pubs change hands. It changes the loan because the lender is not just valuing bricks, it is underwriting a business, so the trading figures matter as much as the property. It also means the LVR is lower than a standard commercial purchase, typically 50% to 65%, because the income is operator-dependent. Understanding that a going concern is a trading business and not just a property is what gets these deals funded well, and it is the first thing we make clear.

A freehold going concern is generally funded to 50% to 65% of value, so a deposit near 35% to 45% is common. Add residential or other security and a cross-collateralised structure can reach up to 100% of the purchase price. The exact number depends on your file, so talk to us.

In New South Wales they carry real, transferable value and are captured inside the going-concern valuation, but the mechanism is not what most buyers assume. Entitlements are held against the hotel licence, not owned separately from it. On a standard going-concern purchase, where you take over the same licence at the same premises, the entitlements simply stay attached to that licence and pass to you when it transfers, so no forfeiture applies. Forfeiture only bites when entitlements are moved between venues: they move in blocks, and one entitlement in each block is forfeited to the regulator. On a gaming-weighted pub the entitlements can be a large share of total value. Other states work differently, and Victorian entitlements in particular are term-limited and taxed on transfer, so treat this as a New South Wales position and check your own state.

By a specialist hospitality valuer, on the venue's trade. The valuation is a capitalisation of EBITDA, not a rate per square metre, which is why two pubs of identical size can value very differently. The valuer reviews the trading financials, the licence, the gaming position, the condition of the venue and comparable venue sales. Because the value follows the earnings, a venue that grows its trade genuinely becomes worth more, and that is what makes a revaluation and equity release possible later.

In practice, yes, or something close to it. There is no licensing gate on borrowing, but lenders treat relevant licensed-venue experience the way they treat a professional qualification in other sectors. An experienced operator with a trading record gets a materially better outcome than a first-time buyer with none. A newcomer to hospitality gets the strongest result by pairing the application with an experienced manager, a larger deposit or a solid handover, and we show you exactly how to present that.

Two to three years of business financial statements and tax returns for the venue, BAS lodgements, and POS or trade reports that show the revenue split between wet, dry and gaming. Lenders look closely at that mix, because a pub earning most of its money from gaming is assessed differently to a food-led venue. Where the venue has traded under a previous owner, the vendor's figures are the starting point, and we help you interrogate them before you rely on them.

You can, but it is harder. A leasehold going concern means you buy the business and the licence but not the building, and the loan term is capped by the years remaining on the lease. Funding is typically 40% to 50%, so the deposit is larger, and many major banks will not write leasehold at all, which pushes the deal to the non-bank market. On a leasehold purchase the remaining lease term sets how far the funding can stretch, so we check it first and structure the loan to the years you have. We will tell you early if it does not stack up.

Going direct means one lender's appetite and one set of criteria. Licensed venues are a sector where appetite varies enormously: some banks have pulled back from pub lending entirely, others are active but want particular trading profiles or take a dim view of gaming income. A specialist broker knows which lenders are actually writing licensed venues this quarter, and how each one reads a going concern. Presenting the trade to the wrong credit team is how a fundable venue gets declined.

For a full-doc application, most lenders want two to three years of business financial statements and tax returns, personal tax returns for all guarantors, the contract of sale, the licence details and the venue's trade reports. Many operators do not fit a standard full-doc assessment neatly. Alt-doc and low-doc routes exist, supported by an accountant's declaration, BAS lodgements and business bank statements. We work through your income situation upfront to identify the best approach.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. It is also one of the more intricate purchases in commercial finance, and the detail is what decides whether it works. The fund borrows under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, so the venue sits in a separate holding trust and the lender can only come after that one property. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property: a trading venue generally qualifies, a venue with a residence attached generally does not. Your operating company leases the venue back from the fund, in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super, so the fund needs its own deposit and the 100% LVR structures described elsewhere on this page do not work here. Lenders cap SMSF lending below a standard purchase, generally between 65% and 75%, and want cash left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated. It is, and that is exactly why we do it every day. Reach out to our team and we will guide you through the entire process. We structure the finance, tell you which lenders will take a licensed venue as SMSF security and on what terms, and bring in the SMSF specialists and licensed advisers who set the fund side up. You will not be working it out on your own. Get that right and it is a solid, compliant structure.

Often, yes. A decline from your bank does not mean the venue is not fundable, it usually means it went to a lender whose appetite did not match the asset. Banks have tightened licensed-venue criteria over time and several have stepped back from the sector. Non-bank and specialist lenders assess these venues differently and are frequently more comfortable with going-concern structures, gaming income and shorter trading histories. We will give you a straight answer on whether it is fundable elsewhere.

Yes, though it is the thinnest lender appetite in the sector. Late-night licence conditions, security requirements and more volatile trade mean most banks decline, so these deals usually land with non-bank lenders, at a higher deposit and a higher rate. A nightclub with a long trading record, a stable licence and clean compliance history is a very different proposition to a new late-trading venue. We will be direct with you about what is achievable before you commit.

Most of the time, no. We are paid a commission by the lender once your loan settles. Where a purchase requires significant preparation, a small mandate fee may apply, and we will always be upfront about this before work begins.

Not at settlement. The incoming licensee applies to the regulator to transfer the licence, and it is assessed much as if it were an application for a new one. In New South Wales, Liquor and Gaming usually gives provisional approval within about four weeks of a complete application and confirms it at around 60 days, and the transfer takes effect on provisional approval. That is why a contract is normally made conditional on the licence transfer, and why the licensing pathway, rather than the credit decision, often sets the settlement date. Licensing is state based, so check the position in your state.

Although we are based in Sydney, we service clients across all major Australian cities, including Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart, along with their surrounding regional areas. Wherever your venue is located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with pub and bar fit-out finance and working capital for pubs and bars. On asset finance, that covers gaming machines and entitlements, commercial kitchen and refrigeration equipment, cellar and coolroom plant, beer reticulation, and sound and lighting. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover beverage stock, wages, licence and compliance costs, and a refurbishment between trading periods.

Yes. That is our core ethos, helping you understand the right strategy, structure and clear advice from the very first conversation. Our main borrower profiles are established pub owners and licensed-venue operators seeking finance from $100,000 upwards, so a first commercial loan is well within our wheelhouse. We will walk you through the going-concern structure, the deposit you will genuinely need, and what the lender will ask for, before you commit to anything.