Specialist commercial property and corporate and commercial solicitors working in partnership with small and medium sized business owners to acquire, sell, grow and protect their businesses.
Holmes & Hills has solicitors specialising in advising and representing owners of hospitality and leisure businesses. With experts in commercial legal issues, commercial property, employment law, planning law and commercial disputes; Holmes & Hills has the necessary specialists to advise hospitality and leisure business owners as they enter, operate, grow and exit their businesses.
Hospitality and leisure businesses differ from many other types of businesses due to the co-creation or venue-centred creation of value for customers. This often means that the business (and its value) is entirely or greatly intertwined with the premises from which the business operates. This can mean that when hospitality and leisure business owners seek advice on acquiring, purchasing or growing their business, they require advice from a commercial property solicitor and a corporate and commercial solicitor, to ensure their interests are fully protected. This can increase costs.
At Holmes & Hills, solicitor Katherine Waumsley has spent her career working in the fields of both corporate and commercial law and commercial property. With her clients valuing being able to work with a single solicitor that can advise on both commercial property and general commercial issues, Katie has built up a large client base of hospitality and leisure business owners.
Services provided to hospitality and leisure businesses:
Advice from a specialist solicitor is imperative when considering purchasing a hospitality or leisure business. Given the nature of such businesses and the strong link between venue/premises and the business, due diligence most be thorough, covering all aspects of the business’ operations, as well as its premises - whether owned or leased.
Failure to undertake thorough due diligence can lead to acquiring a business that is not able to legally operate as imagined, or at the planned capacity (even if the business was operating as such previously), impacting future earnings and potentially rendering the business no longer viable.
It is recommended that advice is sought from a specialist solicitor with experience of advising hospitality and leisure business owners prior to entering into negotiations with the seller or agent/broker. Seeking early advice from an expert legal advisor allows for you extracting the necessary information, insight and knowledge you require from the seller/agent in order to ensure you are asking the right questions and gathering the necessary information to enable you to negotiate understanding exactly what you are, and are not, buying.
For owners seeking to expand their hospitality or leisure business, Holmes & Hills can provide the necessary advice based on your chosen growth strategy. This includes advising on freehold commercial property acquisitions, leasehold commercial property acquisitions, franchise arrangements, competitor or complimentary business acquisition, or expansion of operations from existing premises and the property or planning law implications.
When seeking to exit your hospitality or leisure business entirely, or in part, obtaining early advice (at the point of thinking about selling) can provide for a quicker and less stressful transaction. Your solicitor will advise you on matters that will need to be dealt with and information required to be organised in order to satisfy any buyer (and their solicitor), once you have one.
Organising affairs in advance and pre-preparing for the enquiries that a buyer and their advisors will raise can demonstrate to a buyer the professionalism with which your business was operated. This will give them confidence during the course of the transaction and reduce delays, therefore reducing the risk of the transaction falling-through. Organising the business for sale early can identify any issues that may be a barrier to selling the business, or at least selling it at your desired value. Identifying these early allows for consideration of solutions aimed at rectifying any barriers to sale or negative impacts on valuation.
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