Does a hospitality MCA include cash takings?

No. UK MCA lenders only collect from card receipts. Cash takings are entirely yours and don't affect the advance, which is one reason MCAs work well for hospitality businesses with mixed payment methods.

Can a brand-new pub or restaurant get a merchant cash advance?

Yes if you have at least 4-6 months of card-acquirer settlements. A small panel of UK MCA lenders specialise in new-hospitality applicants, with pricing at the higher end of the factor-rate range.

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UK hospitality funding guide

Merchant cash advances for pubs, bars, restaurants & hospitality

Q: How much can a UK pub or restaurant borrow on a merchant cash advance?

Typical first-time hospitality MCAs are 80-120% of one month's card takings. Established venues with strong card mix and 2+ years trading can access 150-200% of monthly takings, with maximum advances up to £500,000 for multi-site groups.

Q: What happens during a quiet month?

The lender takes a smaller absolute amount because the agreed percentage is applied to lower card sales. The total repayable doesn't change; the expected term extends slightly.

Hospitality is the UK sector that uses merchant cash advances more than any other — for one simple reason: the product was effectively built for it. Card-heavy daily takings, recurring stock and refit cycles, and a working pattern that flexes with weekends, bank holidays and seasons all map naturally to a sales-linked repayment model.

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Why hospitality uses MCAs

Why a merchant cash advance fits a UK hospitality business

Pub, bar, restaurant and café owners share a common cashflow profile: a high proportion of revenue comes through a card terminal, weekly takings can swing materially with weather, footfall and seasonality, and there are predictable spikes (Christmas, summer, weekend trading, big sport fixtures) that need stock, staff and prep funded ahead of time.

A merchant cash advance is paid back as a percentage of every card transaction settled by your acquirer. Busy week, bigger payment. Quiet midweek, smaller payment. There's no fixed monthly direct debit hitting on the same day whether you've taken £5,000 or £50,000 the week before — which is why most UK restaurant cash advances are arranged this way rather than as fixed-instalment loans.

Why hospitality lenders love MCAs: the repayment is collected directly from the card-acquirer settlement, not your bank account. That removes a whole layer of risk vs. a traditional unsecured loan — which is why pricing for established hospitality merchants is often the most competitive in the entire UK MCA market.

Sectors

UK hospitality businesses we routinely fund

If you take card payments through a UK acquirer, we can almost certainly place a merchant cash advance against the takings.

Pubs & bars

Refresh a beer garden, refurbish bar areas, fund a new cellar, cover quarterly VAT, or stock up before bank holiday weekends. UK merchant cash advances for pubs and bars typically range from £5,000 to £150,000.

Restaurants & cafés

Kitchen refits, EPOS upgrades, seasonal staffing for Christmas service, marketing pushes ahead of the January quiet period. Merchant cash advances for restaurants and cafés work particularly well because card mix is normally 80%+.

Hotels, B&Bs & guest houses

Pre-summer refurbishment, marketing for Christmas/New Year stays, new linen, OTA fees. We can fund hotels using card revenue from Stripe, Worldpay, Tyl, Adyen, Barclaycard and most channel-manager integrations.

Takeaways & quick service

Funding new shopfronts, delivery vehicles, scaling marketing, or reducing reliance on aggregator commissions. We work with takeaways using Square, Sumup, Dojo and major UK acquirers.

Event venues, weddings & marquee hire

High summer, sparse winter. MCA repayment naturally ramps in peak booking weeks and falls back when the diary is empty. Better fit than fixed-instalment lending.

Nightclubs & late-night venues

Sound and light upgrades, refits, drinks-stock pre-financing for festive trading. A handful of UK MCA lenders specialise in late-night venues.

Worked example

Pub group: a £75,000 MCA for a beer-garden refit

A two-site pub operator on the south coast averages £110,000/month in card takings across both sites. They want to fund a £75,000 beer-garden refit ahead of summer.

Advance: £75,000
Factor rate: 1.18
Total repayable: £88,500
Repayment %: 11% of card receipts
Expected term: ~7–8 months across full summer trade

In the busiest summer weeks the lender takes a larger absolute amount. After September it scales back automatically as trading softens. Total cost is fixed at outset; the only variable is how quickly card sales repay the balance.

Model your hospitality MCA →

UK pub landlord reviewing weekly card sales on a tablet

Compare

Hospitality MCA vs other UK funding products

Product	Repayment	Best for hospitality?
Merchant cash advance	% of card receipts — flexes with trade	Yes — the strongest fit for card-heavy hospitality
Unsecured business loan	Fixed monthly direct debit	Workable for stable units; harder for seasonal venues
Asset / kitchen finance	Fixed instalments tied to specific equipment	Good for kitchens & refits only; doesn't cover stock or wages
Bank overdraft / RCF	Interest on drawn balance	Useful for short bridges; limit can be reduced at renewal
Brewery / supplier financing	Tied to supply contracts	Cheap but ties pricing & range — restrictive long-term

Acquirer support

Acquirers we can fund hospitality MCAs against

UK hospitality merchants typically use one of a handful of acquirers, almost all of which are supported by our MCA lender panel:

Worldpay — very common for pubs/restaurants. Most MCA lenders handle Worldpay split-settlement seamlessly.
Tyl by NatWest — well supported, common in independent restaurants and cafés.
Barclaycard / Barclaycard Payments — fully supported. See our acquirer guide.
Dojo — rapid growth across UK hospitality; most MCA lenders now handle Dojo merchants directly.
Stripe / Square / Sumup — common for cafés, bars and quick-service restaurants. Acquirer-backed advances also available.
Takepayments / Elavon / Adyen — supported.

If your acquirer isn't on the list, mention it on the enquiry form — we can almost always confirm support within minutes.

FAQs

Hospitality MCA — FAQs

How much can a UK pub or restaurant borrow on a merchant cash advance?

Typical first-time MCAs are 80–120% of one month's card takings. Established venues with strong card mix and 2+ years' trading can often access 150–200% of monthly takings. Maximum advances reach £500,000 for multi-site groups.

Can a brand-new restaurant or pub apply?

Yes if you have at least 4–6 months of card-acquirer settlements. New-business pricing is at the higher end of the factor-rate range; we have a small panel of UK lenders who specifically target new hospitality.

Does the MCA include cash takings?

No. Lenders only collect from card receipts. Cash sales are entirely yours and don't affect the advance — one of the reasons MCAs work well for hospitality even where cash mix is high.

What if a quiet month means I can't repay?

That's the structural advantage of MCA over fixed-instalment lending. The lender takes a smaller absolute amount in a quiet month because the percentage is applied to lower card sales. The total repayable doesn't change — the term simply extends.

Is a Barclaycard merchant cash advance available?

Yes. Hospitality merchants on Barclaycard can access both Barclaycard's own in-app advance product and the wider UK MCA market via our broker route. Read our acquirer-specific notes in the card acquirer MCA guide.

Can I get a merchant cash advance for a takeaway?

Yes. UK takeaways with card terminals (Square, Sumup, Dojo, etc.) are commonly funded. Aggregator-only revenue (Just Eat, Deliveroo) needs a separate route — talk to us about a hybrid loan/MCA structure.

Can hotels use MCAs to fund pre-season refurbishment?

Absolutely. UK hotels frequently take a spring MCA against summer card-takings to fund pre-season refurbishment, marketing pushes and OTA spend.

Can I take a second MCA after the first clears?

Yes. Most UK MCA lenders offer a top-up (“refinance”) once 50–70% of the original advance has been repaid — usually with improved pricing because you've built a payment history.

Apply for a hospitality merchant cash advance

Tell us about your venue, your card-takings and what you'd like to fund. We'll come back with indicative offers from UK lenders that specialise in pubs, bars, restaurants, cafés and hospitality.

Apply for a hospitality MCA

Back to merchant cash advance funding

Eligibility, advance amount, factor rate and repayment percentage are determined by the chosen UK MCA lender following formal underwriting. Personal guarantees may be required. The Loans Hub is a UK credit broker, not a lender. Quotes are indicative only.

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