Kendal is a market town in the dale of the River Kent, just outside the Lake District National Park, 8 miles south-east of Windermere and 19 miles north of Lancaster. Its population was 29,593 at the 2021 Census, and since a 2023 reform it has been the administrative centre of Westmorland and Furness. Ringed by Scout Scar, Potter Fell, Benson Knott and Helm Hill, and surrounded by rural villages, it works as the commercial centre for a wide area, which is why it is often called the Gateway to the Lakes.
For a company that has outgrown renting, a business mortgage is a long-term loan secured on the building it trades from. We arrange that finance; we do not lend it. We package your accounts and the property, approach the lenders whose criteria fit, and manage the case to completion. It is not a residential mortgage. Kendal sits within our coverage of Cumbria.
Premises finance for manufacturers in the Auld Grey Town
Kendal's early prosperity came from cloth, and in the 19th century it added snuff and shoes; the K Shoes factory stayed a major employer until it closed in 2003. Manufacturing is still part of the town's identity. Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon makes pumps and turbines, James Cropper makes paper at Burneside, Mardix makes switchgear and Kendal Nutricare has a baby milk facility in the north of the town.
Around employers like these sit smaller engineering, fabrication and maintenance businesses that need a workshop or light industrial unit of their own. For a standard owner-occupied unit the indicative rate is 6.0 to 7.5% a year, typically at 70 to 75% loan to value, subject to status, accounts and valuation. Directors of profitable firms sometimes buy through a SIPP or SSAS instead; our page on buying premises through a pension explains how that works. Pension purchases need a regulated pension adviser or scheme administrator: we introduce, we do not advise.
Kendal's makers, shops and Lakes hospitality
ONS UK Business Counts 2026, local units. Figures are for the Westmorland and Furness local authority area.
Show as a table
| Sector | Businesses | Kendal share | UK share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farming, forestry and fishing | 2,445 | 18.3% | 4.5% |
| Construction and building trades | 1,585 | 11.9% | 12.5% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 1,250 | 9.4% | 14% |
| Retail | 1,200 | 9% | 9.4% |
| Business support services | 885 | 6.6% | 8% |
| Restaurants, cafes and pubs | 820 | 6.1% | 6.2% |
| Manufacturing and engineering | 600 | 4.5% | 4.3% |
| Health and social care | 575 | 4.3% | 5.7% |
| Hotels and accommodation | 535 | 4% | 0.8% |
- 4.8xhotels and accommodation535 businesses
- 4.2xfarming2,350 businesses
- 3.5xforestry75 businesses
- 2.6xenergy supply85 businesses
A figure of 2.0x means the trade makes up twice the share of local businesses that it does across the UK.
The figures cover Westmorland and Furness as a whole, 13,355 businesses. Accommodation runs at 4.83 times the UK share, the most over-represented trade in the area, and farming accounts for 18.3% of firms. Museums and cultural attractions appear at 2.07 times.
Kendal's town centre shops often come with a flat above, which counts as semi-commercial and is typically priced in the 6.5 to 8.5% band. Lenders will look at both the shop's trade and the residential element, and at how the floors are separated.
Buying a shop or studio in Kendal, Cumbria: retail, visitors and the IT sector
The town is known today mainly as a shopping centre, for its festivals and historic sights such as Kendal Castle, and as the home of Kendal Mint Cake. Tourism is a major employer, and better broadband has supported a significant IT and design sector. That gives the centre a steady market for shops, cafés, studios and small offices, many in the grey limestone buildings that earned Kendal the name Auld Grey Town.
Plenty of those buildings have a flat or rooms above the shop. Lenders treat them as semi-commercial premises, at an indicative 6.5 to 8.5% a year and up to 75% loan to value, subject to status, accounts and valuation. Commercial lending to a limited company is unregulated and falls outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter. Where a deal would be regulated, for example lending to a sole trader or individual, or a property where the borrower or a close family member will live in part of it, we refer it to an appropriately authorised firm.
Kendal and Westmorland: retail steady, rural stock growing
Valuation Office Agency, non-domestic rating stock of properties, March 2026. Figures for the Westmorland and Furness council area. Average rateable value is the VOA's estimate of annual rent, not a sale price.
- Industrial and warehouse3,090properties on the rating listUp 5.5% since 2016Average rateable value £22,700factories, workshops, warehouses and trade units
- Offices1,500properties on the rating listUp 10.3% since 2016Average rateable value £10,200offices, including converted buildings
- Shops and retail2,710properties on the rating listUnchanged since 2016Average rateable value £19,200shops, showrooms and retail warehouses
- Other commercial7,980properties on the rating listUp 20.5% since 2016Average rateable value £14,700pubs, hotels, surgeries, nurseries, garages and more
Kendal's estates, from Mintsfeet to Dockray Hall
Named estates and parks listed on Google Maps near Kendal, October 2026. Listed to show where premises trade locally; we have no connection with the owners or agents.
- Kendal Business ParkAppleby Rd, Kendal LA9 6EW
- Dockray Hall Industrial EstateDockray Hall Rd, Kendal LA9 4RU
- Fell Business ParkKendal LA9 5RR
- Mintsfeet Industrial EstateKendal LA9 6LU
- Minsfeet Industrial EstateKendal LA9 6LZ
- Riverside Business ParkNatland Rd, Kendal LA9 7SX
- Lake District Business ParkKendal LA9 6NH
- Shap Road Industrial EstateKendal LA9 6NZ
- Westmorland Business ParkKendal LA9 6NS
- Meadowbank Business ParkKendal LA9 6NY
- Hall House Industrial EstateBeehive Ln, New Hutton, Kendal LA8 0AH
- Mealbank Mill Industrial EstateMeal Bank, Kendal LA8 9DL
Across Westmorland and Furness, shop numbers held at 2,710, with an average rateable value of £19,200. The 'other' category grew 20.5% from 6,620 to 7,980. Industrial units rose 5.5%. Offices average a rateable value of £10,200, a sign of small suites above shops and in converted buildings. For Kendal traders, steady retail numbers mean a settled market with reliable comparable evidence.
Commercial property finance at the Gateway to the Lakes: tax and planning
Kendal is in England, so Stamp Duty Land Tax applies at the non-residential rates and the lender's security is a legal charge registered at HM Land Registry. Planning sits with Westmorland and Furness Council. Although the national park boundary is close, the town itself lies outside it.
Illustrative example. A design agency buys a freehold office for £250,000. At 75% loan to value the loan is £187,500 and the deposit £62,500. SDLT at rates as at October 2026 (HMRC) is £2,000: nothing on the first £150,000 and 2% on the next £100,000. Our stamp duty guide for commercial property shows how the higher band applies on larger buildings.
Kendal areas and nearby places
Kendal town centre
The historic centre holds the shops, cafés, galleries and professional offices that serve the surrounding villages, along with the Brewery Arts Centre. Older limestone buildings with accommodation above are common, so many purchases here are semi-commercial, and valuers will look at both the shop's trade and the upper floors.
North Kendal
The north of the town is home to Kendal Nutricare's baby milk facility and to light industrial and trade premises. It is the natural place for growing manufacturers and suppliers to look for a unit, with good access towards the M6 and the roads into the Lakes.
Burneside
Just north of Kendal, Burneside is the base of James Cropper, the paper maker that produces, at no profit, the paper for the Royal British Legion's Remembrance poppies. Small businesses in the village and around the mill tend to be engineering, haulage and service firms tied to the wider industrial area.
Windermere
Eight miles north-west, Windermere is one of the Lake District towns where most of the national park's permanent residents live. Hotels, guest houses, restaurants and outdoor shops dominate, and lenders treat them as trading businesses, so trading accounts carry as much weight as the building's value.
Arnside and the Kent estuary
South of Kendal the River Kent winds through dairy and sheep-farming country to reach Morecambe Bay around Arnside. Businesses here include farm suppliers, food producers and village retail and hospitality, typically in smaller freeholds where a modest loan suits the scale of the trade.
