Bolton Business Finance is an independent commercial finance broker working with businesses and property investors across Bury. We arrange commercial mortgages, bridging, development finance, business loans, asset finance, invoice finance and merchant cash advances. Our office is eight miles away, straight down the A58.
We are the commercial mortgage broker Bury businesses can actually sit down with. We do not lend ourselves. We approach the lenders most likely to say yes to your particular case, and we will come to your premises rather than handle the whole thing by email.
Written by Marcus Wright, owner and founder of Bolton Business Finance Ltd, in financial services since 2008 and a commercial finance broker since 2019. Last reviewed September 2026.
On this page
- We will come to you in Bury
- Commercial mortgage broker Bury
- Business loans and asset finance
- Merchant cash advance and short term funding
- Bridging finance in Bury
- Buy to let and property investment
- Development finance in Bury
- What we do not do
- Bury businesses we work with
- Meeting us in Bury
- Bury commercial finance FAQs
- Apply for commercial finance in Bury
The short version
- A commercial finance broker arranges funding for businesses from lenders across the market, rather than lending money itself.
- A commercial mortgage is a loan secured against property used for business purposes, either premises your own business trades from or a property you let to a tenant.
- UK lenders typically advance up to 70% of value on commercial property and up to 75% on semi-commercial, over terms of 3 to 25 years.
- More than 100 lenders are active in the UK commercial mortgage market. A decline from one tells you about that lender’s criteria rather than about your business.
- A commercial mortgage in Bury usually takes 3 to 6 months from enquiry to completion. Business loans and merchant cash advances can complete in days.
We Will Come To You In Bury
Bury is our closest neighbour. From Westgate House it is eight miles down the A58 through Ainsworth and Bradley Fold, or out on the M61 and M66 if the roads are busy. Either way it is twenty minutes on a normal morning, which means a meeting in Bury costs us an hour of travel rather than a day.
That proximity matters more than it sounds. Funding decisions turn on detail that rarely survives a form: why the last set of accounts looks the way it does, what the premises are actually worth to the business, what happens if the main contract is not renewed. Those conversations happen properly across a table.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Areas covered | Bury town centre, The Rock, Ramsbottom, Radcliffe, Whitefield, Prestwich, Tottington, Pilsworth and the surrounding villages |
| Distance from our office | About eight miles via the A58, or the M61 and M66. Twenty minutes off peak, nearer thirty at rush hour |
| Products arranged | Commercial mortgages, bridging, development finance, business loans, asset finance, invoice finance, merchant cash advances |
| Lender panel | Over 135 lenders, from high street banks to specialist and non-bank funders |
| Broker fee | None on most facilities, we are paid a disclosed commission by the lender. Property secured deals carry £495 upfront and 1% on completion |
| First meeting | Free, at your premises, your accountant’s office or ours |
| Regulatory status | Not FCA authorised. Non-regulated business finance only. No residential mortgages |
Commercial Mortgage Broker Bury
A commercial mortgage is a loan secured against property used for business purposes. That covers premises your own business trades from, and property you buy to let to a commercial tenant. Terms usually run 3 to 25 years, occasionally up to 30. Lenders typically advance up to 70% of value on commercial property and up to 75% on semi-commercial, meaning a shop or office with a flat above it.
Bury’s commercial stock is mixed and that shapes what lenders will do. The town centre around The Rock and Millgate is retail and leisure. Pilsworth and the land either side of the M66 is industrial and distribution. Ramsbottom has built a genuine independent food and drink economy over the last decade, which means a lot of leasehold trading premises. Radcliffe and Whitefield are largely secondary retail parades and small industrial units. Each of those attracts a different set of lenders, and the appetite gap between them is wide.
What decides your terms
- Property type. Standard industrial and offices attract the widest choice. Pubs, hotels, care homes and petrol stations attract specialists only.
- Whether you occupy it or let it. Owner occupied is assessed on your trading accounts. Investment is assessed on the rent and the strength of the tenant.
- Lease length. A short unexpired lease on an investment property narrows the field quickly.
- Trading history. Two years of filed accounts opens most doors. Less than that pushes you toward specialists.
- Deposit source. Lenders will ask where it came from and expect an answer with evidence.
The distinction that catches people out is investment against trading. If you are buying premises to run your own business from, the lender underwrites your business. If you are buying to let it out, the lender underwrites the rental income and the covenant behind it. Same building, two entirely different applications, and often two entirely different lists of lenders.
More than 100 lenders are active in this market and no broker uses all of them on any one case. What matters is knowing which ten or fifteen will look at your particular property type and circumstances, and going to those rather than to the ones whose name you recognise.
Be realistic on timing. In our experience a commercial mortgage takes 3 to 6 months from first enquiry to completion, and longer on a complicated case. Valuation and legal work are the two stages that overrun most often. If your deadline is weeks rather than months, bridging is usually the honest answer and we will say so.
Our main commercial mortgage broker page sets out lender appetite and typical loan to value by property type, from industrial and offices through to pubs, care homes, petrol stations and places of worship.
Business Loans and Asset Finance in Bury
Across the UK, 99.18% of businesses employ fewer than 50 people and around three quarters employ nobody beyond the owners, according to the government’s Business Population Estimates for 2025. Bury’s business base looks much the same. That matters because most high street lending policy is built around businesses considerably larger, which is why small firms with perfectly sound trading get turned away.
A recent Bury case, and why the quotes differed so much
A Bury pub operator came to us in June 2025 needing £75,000. We put it to five lenders inside a week.
One offered £75,000 over five years at 12.9%. One offered up to £100,000 but at 5% per month. One offered up to £100,000 capped at a twelve month term. One started at 17%. One declined automatically without a human looking at it.
Those are not small differences. They are different products wearing the same name, and the cheapest headline number was not the cheapest money once the term was taken into account. The five year facility was the one that completed. Submitted on 16 June 2025 and paid out eleven days later.
What we arrange most often for Bury businesses:
- Unsecured business loans, typically £10,000 to £500,000, decisions in days rather than weeks
- Secured business loans, larger sums against property, slower but cheaper
- Asset finance, for vehicles, plant and equipment, with nil deposit options and no broker fee
- Invoice finance, releasing cash tied up in unpaid invoices, which suits recruitment, haulage and contracting
Merchant Cash Advance and Short Term Funding
A merchant cash advance is repaid as a percentage of your card takings rather than as a fixed monthly amount. When trade is quiet you repay less. It suits retail, hospitality and events, which is a large part of Bury town centre and Ramsbottom.
A recent Bury case, and seven declines
A Bury town centre events business came to us in February 2026 asking for £10,000. Over the following eight weeks it was declined seven times, by seven lenders, for seven different reasons.
Sales too low. Not a homeowner. Missed payments on the credit file. A duplicate application sitting with another introducer. Failed internal checks. Outside eligibility criteria. And one lender that simply could not underwrite the case because the client took payments through SumUp and banked with Monzo, and its systems could not read that combination.
The eighth lender funded £12,500 on 10 April 2026, more than the client originally asked for. Nothing about the business changed across those eight weeks. What changed was which lender was looking at it.
That case is the clearest answer we can give to the question we are asked most often, which is whether a previous decline means the business is unfundable. It does not. It means one lender’s criteria did not fit.
Bridging Finance in Bury
Bridging is short term property lending, usually three to eighteen months, priced monthly and repaid from a sale or a refinance. It is used in Bury for the same handful of situations we see everywhere:
- Buying at auction, where completion is fixed at twenty eight days
- Buying a property no mainstream lender will touch, typically no kitchen, no bathroom or serious damp
- Breaking a chain when a sale slips
- Raising working capital quickly against property already owned
- Funding a refurbishment before refinancing onto a term facility
The number that catches people out
Bridging lenders size the loan against the 180 day value, not the open market value. That is what the property would fetch in a forced six month sale, and it is routinely 10% to 20% below the figure in the valuation you paid for. If you have budgeted on the headline valuation, the advance can land well short of what you planned for.
Buy To Let and Property Investment in Bury
Bury is an interesting market for investors right now, and not in an entirely comfortable way. According to ONS and HM Land Registry data published in August 2026, the average house price in Bury was £238,000 in June 2026, up 3.3% on the year. Average private rent was £969 a month in July 2026.
Set that against the region. The North West average house price was £220,000 and the average rent £965. So Bury property costs around £18,000 more than the regional average while renting for about the same money. On the headline averages that is a gross yield near 4.9%, against roughly 5.3% across the North West.
The direction is worth watching too. Bury rents rose 1.6% over the year to July 2026. Across the North West they rose 5.7%. Yields in Bury have compressed while they held up regionally, which matters if you are buying on a stressed rental calculation, because lenders test the rent against the payment rather than against your optimism.
Where the value sits is in the spread between property types. Terraced houses averaged £199,000 and rented at £945. Semi-detached averaged £266,000 and rented at £1,059. The terrace produces a materially better yield, which is why most of the Bury investor cases we see are terraced stock in Radcliffe, Whitefield and the streets around Bury town centre rather than family housing in Tottington or Ramsbottom.
Business purpose only
We arrange buy to let and property investment finance on a business basis only, through limited companies, partnerships and portfolio landlords. We do not arrange consumer buy to let, which covers property you have lived in or inherited, or that a close family member occupies. Those cases are regulated and we cannot help with them.
Development Finance in Bury
Development finance funds a build rather than a purchase. It is released in stages against certified progress, with interest rolled up and settled at exit rather than serviced monthly. In Bury it most often funds small residential schemes, conversions of redundant retail and industrial buildings, and the barn and mill conversions that come up around Ramsbottom and Tottington.
- Day one advance against the site, released on completion of the purchase
- Build drawdowns, paid in arrears as a monitoring surveyor certifies the work completed
- Practical completion, final drawdown released and any retention settled
- Exit, loan and rolled up interest repaid from unit sales or a refinance
Expect around 65% of gross development value and up to 85% of cost. The most common mistake we see is assuming the full facility lands on completion. It does not, and you need working capital to reach each certification point. On smaller schemes it is sometimes cheaper to structure the money a different way entirely, against other property you already own, which removes the monitoring surveyor and the drawdown fees.
What We Do Not Do
A fair number of people reach this page looking for a residential mortgage broker in Bury. We are not one, and we would rather say so plainly than waste your time.
We cannot help with these
- Residential mortgages, including first time buyer, home mover and remortgage
- Consumer buy to let, meaning property you have lived in, inherited, or that a close family member occupies
- Self employed residential mortgages
- Any form of consumer credit or personal borrowing
Bolton Business Finance Ltd is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Those products are regulated and require FCA authorisation, so arranging them would be outside what we are permitted to do. For a residential mortgage you need an FCA authorised mortgage broker, and any local independent adviser in Bury will be able to help.
What we do arrange is lending to businesses. Limited companies, partnerships, sole traders trading commercially and property investors buying on a business basis. If you are buying premises, funding stock, replacing a van, smoothing cash flow or building something out, that is our side of the line.
Bury Businesses We Work With
Bury’s economy is not one thing. The businesses we see divide fairly cleanly along geography, and each group tends to need a different product.
- Town centre retail and market traders. Bury Market is one of the few genuinely busy traditional markets left in the North West. Card takings are strong and predictable, which makes merchant cash advance and short term working capital the usual answer rather than a term loan.
- Ramsbottom hospitality. Independent restaurants, bars, delis and the businesses that supply them. Mostly leasehold, mostly seasonal, and often turned down by lenders who cannot get comfortable with a fluctuating year.
- Pilsworth and M66 corridor industrial. Distribution, light manufacturing and trade counters. Asset finance for plant and vehicles, and commercial mortgages where they own the unit.
- Construction and trades across Radcliffe and Whitefield. Groundworks, electrical, joinery and building contractors. Usually invoice finance or asset finance, because the money is tied up in applications and retentions.
- Property investors and small developers. Buying terraced stock to let, or converting redundant buildings. Bridging first, then a term facility once it is let or sold.
Meeting Us in Bury
We are at Westgate House on Westgate Avenue in Bolton, BL1 4RF, with parking on site. The A58 runs almost door to door, and on a normal weekday morning the drive is twenty minutes. At rush hour allow thirty. The M66 makes Ramsbottom and the northern end of the borough just as quick from our side as it is from Bury town centre.
Where we will meet you
- At your premises, anywhere in the Bury borough including Ramsbottom, Radcliffe, Whitefield, Prestwich and Tottington
- At your accountant’s or solicitor’s office, which is often the most useful option on a property purchase
- On site, if you are buying or building something and it makes more sense to stand in it
- At our office in Bolton, twenty minutes away, with parking
Bury Commercial Finance FAQs
Do you actually visit businesses in Bury?
Yes. Bury is about eight miles from our Bolton office, twenty minutes down the A58, and it is the area we cover most regularly after Bolton itself. We meet clients at their premises, at their accountant’s office or on site. There is no charge for a first meeting and no obligation to proceed. If you would rather come to us, we are at Westgate House on Westgate Avenue with parking.
Do you arrange residential mortgages in Bury?
No. Bolton Business Finance Ltd is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and residential mortgages are a regulated product that requires authorisation. We do not arrange residential mortgages, consumer buy to let, self employed residential mortgages or any form of consumer credit. We arrange business finance only. For a residential mortgage you need an FCA authorised mortgage broker.
How long does a commercial mortgage take in Bury?
In our experience 3 to 6 months from first enquiry to completion, and longer on a complicated case. Published guidance often quotes 6 to 12 weeks, which is achievable on a straightforward purchase with clean accounts and a responsive solicitor, but it is not the normal outcome. Valuation and legal work are the two stages that overrun most often. Business loans and merchant cash advances move far faster, sometimes in days.
How much can I borrow on a commercial mortgage in Bury?
Typically up to 70% of value on commercial property, occasionally 75%, and up to 75% on semi-commercial. Where a property has more than one valuation, which is normal on pubs, hotels and care homes, the figure is applied to the lower one. What you can actually service comes out of the rent if it is let, or your trading accounts if you occupy it, so the valuation is only half the answer.
Can you help if my bank has already declined me?
Often, yes. A decline tells you about that lender’s criteria rather than about whether your business can be funded. We funded a Bury business in April 2026 that had been declined seven times by seven different lenders for seven different reasons. Nothing about the business changed. The eighth lender funded it, for more than originally requested. Banks can only offer their own products and will turn you away if you fall outside their boxes.
Do you charge a broker fee?
On most facilities, no. We are paid a commission by the lender if you proceed, which is disclosed to you and does not increase your cost. Property secured deals are the exception and carry a £495 fee upfront plus 1% on successful completion. You will always know the position before you commit to anything.
Apply For Commercial Finance in Bury
Tell us what you are trying to fund
Send us the details and we will come back to you, usually within 24 hours, with the options that are realistic and what they are likely to cost. If we cannot improve on what you have already been offered, we will say so.
About the author
Marcus Wright is the owner and founder of Bolton Business Finance Ltd. He has worked in financial services since 2008, beginning his career at Santander, and has been a commercial finance broker since March 2019.
He founded Bolton Business Finance in 2020 to give businesses access to the whole lending market rather than one bank’s own product range. The firm is a member of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers and works with a panel of 135+ lenders.
Marcus arranges commercial mortgages, bridging, development finance, business loans, asset finance, invoice finance and merchant cash advances. To discuss a Bury case, call 0161 546 9128.
Marcus is also the author of UK Commercial Finance (2026), a commercial finance book for UK business owners and property investors.
Bolton Business Finance Ltd is an independent commercial finance brokerage, not a lender. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and can only complete non-regulated introductions. All lending is for business purposes only. We do not arrange residential mortgages, consumer buy to let or consumer credit. Registered address: Westgate House, 1 Westgate Avenue, Bolton, Greater Manchester, BL1 4RF. Company number 12495909.