Cafe premises...

[Songbird]

Evening chaps,

I'm part of a co-operative who are considering setting up a cafe/bar. I'm in the early stages of drawing up a business plan so I'm looking for information on getting hold of premises.

I understand the possible complications with getting a change of usage - the thing I'm finding it difficult to get to grips with is the hoops that need to be jumped through and due diligence to be carried out in obtaining a lease. Going on previous experience I imagine that it involves paying quite a lot of people a lot of money. Obviously we're going to need a solicitor and a surveyor on board before thinking about anything, but how do things generally work with business leases? Will the letting agent/landlord charge a hefty fee? Does this change if the property is leased from the council? A quick rundown of the stages involved and how much they generally cost &c. or a link to a website which can provide this would be very much appreciated.

My second question is to do with fitting out a non-cafe for cafe usage, as there aren't many current cafes or restaurants which look like they might be becoming available in the local area, though as you can imagine there are plenty of empty shops! Does anyone have any idea of how much you'd be expected to pay to get a kitchen up to commercial standards fitted?

A third question which has just occurred to me is about cafes/restaurants licensed to sell alcohol. Are they still A3 usage? At what point does it jump to A4 and become a bar that sells food?

I obviously plan to do more detailed research myself on these in due course, but it would be good to get some hazy idea of the figures involved.

Many thanks.

 

[Flying Hippy]

Hello Songbird,

I have had many years experience in the restaurant trade, and my family now deal with planing of restaurants and fitting them with a portfolio of over 30 restaurant, bars ect fits.

If you like PM and I will get in touch with you.

 

[deniser]

is the hoops that need to be jumped through and due diligence to be carried out in obtaining a lease. Going on previous experience I imagine that it involves paying quite a lot of people a lot of money. Obviously we're going to need a solicitor and a surveyor on board before thinking about anything, but how do things generally work with business leases? Will the letting agent/landlord charge a hefty fee? Does this change if the property is leased from the council? A quick rundown of the stages involved and how much they generally cost &c. or a link to a website which can provide this would be very much appreciated.

You need a solicitor to handle the lease and a surveyor to check over the premises.

It is not common practice in times of recession for the tenant to pay the landlord's costs (including the agent's costs) so don't agree to this because they will try it on.

This article may be useful:

http://www.squidoo.com/commercialleases

The process is the same whether you lease from the Council or a private landlord. Don't expect the Council to be any more amenable - from experience they can be more difficult to negotiate with than private landlords!

 

[maria102]

This is good advice, unfortunately I am paying the landlords management fees on top of my rent - we negotiated before things really hit the fan, though my solicitor did tell me not to go along with this, but at the point of signing I had orders arriving as my first lease fell through at the last minute.