Property type: Retail
Retail Property Bridging Loans Sussex
We arrange bridging finance against retail property across Sussex, from the Brighton Lanes and North Laine through the Worthing and Eastbourne town-centre spines to the Chichester PO19 city retail core and the Crawley RH10 high-street stock. Loans run from £150,000 to £10 million, terms from 1 to 24 months, with completions in 7 to 21 days once the valuation and title cooperate. Most retail bridges in our book are unregulated and price in the 0.75 to 1.25% per month band, depending on LTV, vacancy and exit route.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £150k to £25m
- Sussex bridging desk
Sussex · Sussex
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What retail property looks like in Sussex.
Retail in this part of the South East splits into three rough groups. There is the destination retail of the Brighton Lanes, North Laine and Western Road in BN1, the Chichester PO19 core around East Street and South Street, and Goodwood-village retail; these trade firmly on tourism and discretionary spend. There is the suburban and town-centre parade stock in Worthing BN11, Eastbourne BN21, Bognor Regis PO21, Crawley RH10, Horsham RH12 and Hove BN3, typically 1,000 to 4,000 sq ft with a flat or two above. And there is the convenience and small-format supermarket stock sitting on local roads through Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Hastings and Bexhill, often with a long lease to a recognisable covenant. Each of these reads differently to a bridging lender, both on yield and on vacancy risk, and the underwriting approach changes with it.
Use cases
Bridging use cases for retail assets.
The retail bridging cases that close in this market sit in a fairly tight set. We see auction purchases of vacant or partly-let parades where the buyer plans a quick lease-up and refinance to term commercial debt. We see purchases of investments coming out of receivership where speed of completion is the price of getting the deal at all. We see lease re-gear cases where a tenant is taking a 10-year lease in exchange for a rent-free period or a capital contribution, and the landlord wants a bridge to fund the works and the gap. We see change-of-use plays where retail with permitted-development under Class MA or full planning into residential is bought on a bridge, converted, and exited to either BTL refinance or open-market sale. And we see straightforward capital raises against unencumbered retail held by long-term landlords who want a deposit for the next deal. Across these cases lenders care more about the exit than the asset narrative. A vague refinance plan, even on a clean property, kills more retail bridges than any building issue.
Sussex context
Retail Stock Across Brighton, Chichester and the Sussex High Street
Sussex retail has had a varied decade and underwriters know it. Brighton retail has held value well at the destination end, with the Lanes, North Laine and Western Road continuing to draw independent-led trade, tourism flow and creative-quarter spend. Worthing BN11 has been through an active regen story with new occupiers picking up town-centre stock and the council pushing redevelopment of older blocks. Chichester PO19 trades on a tighter, higher-value catchment supported by Goodwood, the Festival of Speed and Revival hospitality spike, the Cathedral and the West Sussex professional-services base. Eastbourne BN21 has been quieter but the Beacon centre has rotated tenants and the seafront convenience trade holds. Hastings TN34 carries the Old Town independent retail spine plus the priory meadow and town-centre stock, with the regen story slowly lifting tone. Crawley RH10 sits between London commuter retail and Gatwick airport spend; the County Mall has shifted tenants but the convenience and food-and-beverage stock has held firm. Beyond the urban centres, Horsham, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, Bexhill and Bognor Regis all trade on local catchments with the post-pandemic shift favouring convenience, food-and-beverage and small-format supermarkets over comparison retail. Bridging lenders read all of this. They price the destination Brighton parade harder, the convenience unit softer, and the change-of-use play on its planning credentials rather than its current rent.
Valuation and lenders
Valuation and lender considerations.
Retail valuations come back on two bases. Vacant possession value is the floor where the unit is empty or where the lease has fewer than three years remaining. Investment value applies where there is a tenant with a recognisable covenant and a meaningful unexpired term. Lenders typically lend on the lower of the two for unregulated bridging, with the LTV cap sitting at 65 to 70% of the operative figure for most cases and 60% where the unit is fully vacant or single-let to a weak covenant. MT Finance, Octane Capital, United Trust Bank, Avamore Capital, ASK Partners and Shawbrook all take retail on bridging, with Hope Capital and Together comfortable on smaller mixed parades. Yield evidence in the right postcode helps; a vague comparable from a different town does not.
What we arrange
What we typically arrange.
On a typical retail bridge we arrange £350,000 to £1.8 million at 65 to 70% LTV, term 9 to 15 months, rate 0.75 to 1.25% per month, arrangement fee 1.5 to 2%. Exit is most commonly a refinance to term commercial debt, a sale of the freehold to an investor, or a planning-led conversion to residential with a sale of the converted units. We package the case in 48 hours, run the valuation and legal in parallel, and complete in 14 to 21 days where the title is clean. Where there is title insurance available, auction completions inside 7 days are achievable.
FAQs
Retail bridging questions
Can we bridge a retail unit with a sitting tenant on a short lease?
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Yes, and that is one of the more common scenarios. Lenders price for the unexpired term and the covenant. A unit with 18 months left on a lease to a recognisable national operator and a known re-gear conversation in train reads as lower risk than a unit with five years left to an unrated local tenant. The exit usually drives the LTV more than the lease length, so a credible refinance plan to term commercial debt opens the door to 65 to 70% LTV on the right covenant.
How does bridging work on a retail to residential conversion across Sussex?
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We typically arrange the purchase bridge at 65% of the as-is value, plus a tranche for the works released against monitoring surveyor sign-off at staged completion. Once the conversion is complete and the units are either let or under offer, the exit is to BTL refinance for retained units or open-market sale for disposals. Class MA permitted development from Class E to C3 has shortened the planning piece materially on smaller retail units across Brighton, Worthing and Crawley. Article 4 directions or specific local-plan policies apply in some Brighton & Hove and Chichester District areas, so the planning position is checked first.
What rate range applies to retail bridging across Sussex?
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Most retail bridges in Sussex price between 0.75% and 1.25% per month. Tenanted investment units with a strong covenant and clear refinance exit sit at the lower end. Vacant secondary stock or change-of-use plays sit at the upper end, with the highest pricing reserved for heavy refurbishment or contested planning positions. Arrangement fees are 1.5 to 2% of the loan, with valuation case-by-case and legal fees on both sides paid by the borrower.
Tell us about the deal
Indicative terms within 24 hours.
A short triage call, then a sized indicative offer against a named lender for your retail property in Sussex or across Sussex.
Regulated bridging on owner-occupied residential property falls under FCA regulation. Unregulated bridging on commercial and investment property does not. We are not directly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we introduce regulated cases to authorised partners who carry out the regulated activity.
Next step
Talk to a Sussex retail bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on retail property across Sussex, covering East Sussex Council, West Sussex Council and the Brighton & Hove unitary area. Indicative terms in 24 hours.