Leisure & Hospitality

Our Commercial team advises leisure and hospitality businesses on a wide range of legal matters, including commercial contracts, intellectual property, and data protection. This includes work for hotels, restaurant groups, golf businesses, and other leisure venues, helping them meet legal requirements and ensuring their commercial agreements are well-drafted and robust to support their business operations.

Recent work:

1. Advising a large global restaurant chain with their commercial due diligence related to the sale of a stake of their business, which included a secondment within the company to provide hands-on support and legal insight.
2. Providing intellectual property law advice to a company operating a chain of licensed restaurants ensuring the protection and strategic management of their brand.
3. Advising on construction law matters for a well-known golf club, including construction contract and risk management.
4. Assisting and advising a UK managed-services provider for health and leisure-related venues on an agreement relating to the management and operation of a leisure centre.

Our Corporate team advises businesses and owners in the leisure and hospitality sector, including luxury hotels, restaurant groups and sports businesses, on mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, corporate restructuring and franchising. We provide tailored support to ensure smooth transactions and help businesses and owners achieve their commercial goals.

Recent work:

1. Share sale of market leading sporting and activity holiday travel company to a large PE backed industry acquirer for a total consideration of up to £8.2m.
2. Acquisition of business and assets of Bedford-based pub and inn (including the freehold property) for aggregate consideration of £1.9m

Our Employment team has extensive experience advising well-known businesses in the leisure and hospitality sector, including hotels, restaurant groups, luxury travel companies, and leisure providers.

We work closely with leading hospitality organisations, including HR in Hospitality and Pride of Britain. Our leisure and hospitality specialists frequently speak at industry events and conferences, sharing insights on key legal challenges and developments in the sector.

Recent work:

1. Successfully represented a well-known restaurant chain in defending a complex sexual harassment claim.
2. Advising an international cruise line on various matters, including a complex restructure involving TUPE.
3. Advised a well-known global household name restaurant group on developing and refining its workplace policies and procedures.
4. Provided tailored training on employment law updates affecting the hospitality sector, to both management and board level teams for a number of high-end luxury hotels.

Our Immigration team has extensive experience advising businesses in the leisure and hospitality sector, including hotels, restaurant groups, and health spas. We provide tailored support on skilled worker visas, sponsor licences, and right-to-work compliance, ensuring that clients meet all necessary immigration regulations and requirements.

Recent work:

1. Advising five-star hotels on skilled worker visa applications and dealing with queries relating to right to work as well as ensuring the businesses remain compliant with their sponsor duties.
2. Advising luxury restaurants on skilled worker applications, assisting with drafting and assigning the certificate of sponsorships and with the subsequent skilled worker visa applications
3. Advising and supporting hotels with ongoing immigration matters such as advice on right to work and prevention of illegal working.

Our Real Estate lawyers advise businesses across the leisure and hospitality sector on the acquisition, management, and sale of commercial properties, including leisure facilities, retail spaces, and mixed-use developments. We offer guidance on property investment, secured lending and business leases.

Recent work:

1. Advising director shareholders of a long-established family run business, on the acquisition of a new pub to join their growing portfolio. Working with numerous areas of expertise including extensive property and corporate due diligence, and employment matters.
2. Acting for Metro Bank in the re-finance of an iconic luxury hotel located off the coast of Devon. With a tailored security package, the funding in excess of £5m is supporting the refurbishment works and upgrades to the island defences.
3. Advising and supporting a corporate landlord on a reorganisation of property and business assets, a sale of three pubs and eventually leading to an exit for the shareholders of the remaining pub business.