The first B&C Directors’ Lunch of 2012 took place last Thursday, April 19, at Signor Sassi in Knightsbridge.

Having grown exponentially since the inaugural Directors’ Lunch was held three years ago (where 27 guests attended), the most recent event saw a total of 74 people meet, dine and mingle at the celebrated Italian restaurant.

Present were a mixture of lenders, packagers, valuers, brokers and conveyancers who all operate in the bridging space.

After 45 minutes of drinks upstairs, the guests descended Signor Sassi’s winding staircase to take their seats for lunch. Mo and Jonathan Newman, Principal Partner at Brightstone Law and co-host of the occasion, spoke a few welcoming words. Jonathan highlighted the similarity in the positions of Bridging & Commercial and Brightstone, both occupying ‘unique’ spaces in the market and capitalising on the surge in bridging which has become evident in recent years.

During lunch, conversations ranged from business to sport, television and shared hobbies, and, with such a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, it was easy for new connections to be made.

The process that goes into securing the right client and the fact that, because bridging is so niche, a significant amount of work goes on behind the scenes for every single case was also raised as an issue from both a packager and lender perspective.

Numerous deals were done on the day too; existing deals were tied up between master brokers and lenders as well as new enquiries which could be more easily satisfied with face-to-face communication.

As the event wound down, some guests (as souls of discretion we won’t say who ahem!) opted to continue the social event – popping to the pub over the road after the lunch finished to keep up the revelry. All we’ll say in B&C towers is that we wouldn’t be too surprised if there were a couple of sore heads the next morning...