Country pub

OakNorth provides £5.3m loan for country inn chain




OakNorth has completed a debt finance facility worth £5.3m for Longshot Country Inns, the restaurant and rooms group.

The challenger bank’s facility will allow Longshot Country Inns to increase the number of bedrooms across its portfolio from 47 to 61.

The group has seven sites across Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire all of which are branded under the name Bel & the Dragon.

Longshot Country Inns purchased the four original Bel & the Dragon sites in 2010 and, between 2014 and 2016, acquired and refurbished three additional country inns.

Joel Cadbury, CEO and co-founder of Longshot, said it was delighted to have secured the loan, which will allow it to accommodate more visitors.

“We have obviously dealt with quite a few banks in the past and can safely say that this experience was like no other – the team at OakNorth was incredibly entrepreneurial, willing to think outside of the box and burn the midnight oil to get the deal done.”

Deepesh Thakrar, debt finance director at OakNorth (pictured above), added: “Joel Cadbury and Ollie Vigors [co-founder and managing director of Longshot] are born entrepreneurs with an exciting and diverse track record of starting, scaling and exiting numerous successful and unique businesses.

“Along with Hector Ross, COO of Longshot Country Inns, they have built an incredibly strong portfolio and we look forward to working with the team on more deals in the future.”

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