Jason Hughes is a successful entrepreneur with several successful businesses. As well as retailing cars and motorbikes, he also owns the very popular indoor karting track, Kart World in Burscough, Lancashire.
He spotted an opportunity to buy a derelict pub nearby, which already had planning permission for a residential development.
For Jason, this was a chance not to be missed, as his vision was to demolish the building and, by also using the large car park, build three houses on the site. Two of the plots had already been sold off plan, which would pay for the development, with Jason keeping the third plot for himself.
Needing the finance to quickly complete the deal, he approached Gary Beggs of Pomegranate Commercial Finance, who recommended Reward.
Mike Calvert, our Business Development Director in the North West, met Jason on site who told him that he used to own the pub but, sadly, the new owner was unable to maintain it as a going concern and closed it five years ago. In the meantime, he had applied for and was granted planning permission to knock it down and build eight houses.
As soon as he heard that he was retiring and selling it off he knew he had to buy it, especially as it had been given the go ahead to change it from commercial to residential use. But, to do so he needed to act quickly so he wouldn’t miss the opportunity, as there was a great deal of interest in the site.
Mike and the Reward team were impressed with the scheme, reducing the plans from eight houses to three and, together with the merits of the site, they quickly organised Business Finance funding to buy the pub and progress the development.
Speaking about the deal, Mike said,
“Jason is a well-known entrepreneur in the area with a number of successful businesses. He is a shrewd operator, and we quickly recognised his strategy to build and sell two homes which would, in effect, completely fund the third for himself. With the right security in place, we had no hesitation in turning around the funds in a few days so he could grab the opportunity.”