Newquay is a town on Cornwall's north coast, about 12 miles north of Truro. Wikipedia describes it as a seaside resort, a fishing port on the North Atlantic and a regional centre for aerospace industries, with an airport and a spaceport. The parish had 23,626 people at the 2021 census, but because the town has a large stock of holiday accommodation the population can rise to 100,000 or more in summer. It grew from the fishing village of New Quay after the railway arrived in the 19th century.
We are a broker. We arrange business mortgages for limited companies buying or refinancing the premises they trade from in Newquay, and we never lend. This is commercial finance for a working company's own building, not a residential mortgage.
What premises do Newquay tourism businesses buy with an owner-occupier mortgage?
Newquay has been a major tourist destination for more than a century, on the strength of nine long sandy beaches including Fistral, well known for surfing. Events add to the trade: the Boardmasters festival draws around 50,000 visitors over a weekend in August, and the town's summer population swings make it one of the most seasonal economies in the county.
Most owner-occupier purchases here are hotels, guest houses, bars, restaurants, cafés, surf schools and shops. Lenders treat hospitality as a trading business, valuing the building partly on its income, with indicative rates of 7.0 to 9.0% a year, subject to status, accounts and valuation. The key question for any lender is how the business covers its repayments in the quiet months, so accounts that show year-round trade, or a cash buffer, carry real weight.
A building with a ground-floor business and a flat above falls under our semi-commercial premises page.
Hotels, surf businesses and cafes: Newquay's trading base
ONS UK Business Counts 2026, local units. Figures are for the Cornwall local authority area.
Show as a table
| Sector | Businesses | Newquay share | UK share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction and building trades | 4,165 | 13.9% | 12.5% |
| Farming, forestry and fishing | 3,870 | 12.9% | 4.4% |
| Retail | 2,880 | 9.6% | 9.3% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 2,860 | 9.5% | 13.8% |
| Restaurants, cafes and pubs | 2,255 | 7.5% | 6.2% |
| Business support services | 1,950 | 6.5% | 8.1% |
| Health and social care | 1,420 | 4.7% | 5.6% |
| Manufacturing and engineering | 1,400 | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Property | 1,040 | 3.5% | 4.5% |
- 7.6xfishing and aquaculture280 businesses
- 3.7xwater transport50 businesses
- 3.6xquarrying45 businesses
- 3.6xhotels and accommodation885 businesses
A figure of 2.0x means the trade makes up twice the share of local businesses that it does across the UK.
The Newquay figures cover the whole Cornwall Council area, 29,950 business units. For a resort town, the key number is accommodation at 3.57 times the UK share, alongside restaurants, cafes and pubs at 7.5% of firms. Water transport runs at 3.69 times. Hotels, guest houses and cafes are trading businesses, so a purchase or refinance is underwritten on turnover and profit across the full year, not only the summer peak. Lenders will ask how winter months are covered.
How does Spaceport Cornwall affect business property finance in Newquay, England?
Newquay is increasingly important for aviation-related industries. The town holds a licence to operate as a spaceport, Spaceport Cornwall, backed by Cornwall Council and the local enterprise partnership, and the first launch from it took place in 2023. In 2022 construction began on a £5.6 million centre linked to the project. The Met Office weather station is at St Mawgan, by Newquay Airport, about 3.5 miles north-east of the town.
For engineering and technology firms supplying the aerospace sector, that means demand for workshops and light industrial units near the airport. A lender will value a clean, adaptable unit more readily than a heavily specialised one, so flexible buildings tend to attract the better loan to value. See owner-occupier mortgages for how lenders assess such companies.
By rail, Newquay is the terminus of the Atlantic Coast Line from Par, with direct summer trains to Plymouth, Exeter and London.
Newquay and Cornwall's growth in hospitality buildings
Valuation Office Agency, non-domestic rating stock of properties, March 2026. Figures for the Cornwall council area. Average rateable value is the VOA's estimate of annual rent, not a sale price.
- Industrial and warehouse7,780properties on the rating listUp 11.8% since 2016Average rateable value £16,400factories, workshops, warehouses and trade units
- Offices3,020properties on the rating listUp 19.4% since 2016Average rateable value £9,400offices, including converted buildings
- Shops and retail5,750properties on the rating listDown 0.7% since 2016Average rateable value £21,200shops, showrooms and retail warehouses
- Other commercial19,560properties on the rating listUp 37.2% since 2016Average rateable value £12,500pubs, hotels, surgeries, nurseries, garages and more
Newquay estates, from Treloggan to the Aerohub Business Park
Named estates and parks listed on Google Maps near Newquay, October 2026. Listed to show where premises trade locally; we have no connection with the owners or agents.
- Treloggan Industrial EstateNewquay TR7 2SX
- Quintdown Business ParkQuintrell Downs, Newquay TR8 4LD
- Newquay Aerohub Business ParkNewquay TR8 4HP
- Whitecross Industrial EstateNewquay TR8 4HN
- St Columb Major Industrial EstateSaint Columb TR9 6SF
- St Columb Industrial EstateSaint Columb TR9 6SF
- Hurling Way St Columb Major Business ParkSaint Columb TR9 6SX
Across Cornwall, other property, which covers holiday lets, hotels and leisure, rose 37.2% since 2016 to 19,560. Shops fell 0.7%. For a Newquay hotel or guest house, that growth means more competition but also more comparables for a valuer. Industrial units rose 11.8%, and average £16,400 in rateable value, a modest figure for a surf or marine workshop.
What deposit does a commercial property loan in Newquay need?
Lenders active in owner-occupier lending typically advance 70 to 75% of the lower of price and valuation over 5 to 25 years, with arrangement fees of about 1 to 2%, subject to status, accounts and valuation.
SDLT is charged by HMRC at 0% up to £150,000, 2% from £150,001 to £250,000 and 5% above £250,000 on non-residential purchases (rates as at October 2026; check the current rates before you buy).
Illustrative example. A surf retail company buys a freehold shop for £325,000. A 75% loan is £243,750 and the deposit £81,250; SDLT is £5,750, so it needs about £87,000 before fees. The Cornwall commercial mortgages page covers other towns.
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.
Business areas in and around Newquay
Town centre and harbour
The centre, where the Newquay Discovery Trail starts at the Killacourt, holds the shops, bars and restaurants, with the working fishing harbour below. Hospitality operators and retailers buy here, and many buildings mix a trading ground floor with accommodation above.
Fistral
The western edge of town meets the Atlantic at Fistral Bay, Newquay's best-known surfing beach and a venue for Boardmasters. Surf schools, board shops, cafés and beach-facing hotels are the typical owner-occupiers, with trade heavily weighted to the summer.
Trenance and the Gannel
Trenance Leisure Gardens run down a wooded valley to the Gannel estuary on the town's quieter southern edge, near Newquay Zoo. Leisure businesses, cafés and guest houses operate here, and the town has been expanding inland in this direction.
Porth
The Porth Valley bounds the town to the north-east. Its beach and nearby holiday parks support hotels, holiday accommodation and food businesses, and lenders will look at the trading pattern across the year for any purchase.
St Mawgan and the airport
Just outside the town, St Mawgan hosts Newquay Airport and Spaceport Cornwall. Aerospace suppliers, engineering firms and aviation services buy or lease units here, and the area is now also the new site for the returning Run to the Sun event.
Watergate Bay
Outside the urban area to the north, Watergate Bay hosts part of the Boardmasters festival. Hospitality and watersports businesses operate here, and lenders will want to see how a remote coastal site trades outside peak season.
