Specialist business mortgage broker for trading companies in Glasgow City

Glasgow has the largest economy in Scotland and sits at the hub of the West Central Scotland metropolitan area. Wikipedia records that the city sustains more than 410,000 jobs in more than 12,000 companies. Shipbuilding and heavy engineering have been gradually replaced by more diversified activity, but major manufacturers are still headquartered here, including Weir Group, Aggreko, Howden, Clyde Blowers, Linn Products, William Grant & Sons, Whyte and Mackay and The Edrington Group, and naval shipbuilding and defence remain significant through companies such as BAE Systems and Thales. In 2023 the major industries in the City Region were public administration, education and health, distribution, hotels and restaurants, banking, finance and insurance, and transport and communication.

That gives a wide spread of owner-occupiers: engineering and fabrication workshops supplying the bigger names, distribution and trade businesses, offices for professional and financial firms, restaurants and hotels, and health and dental practices. Our page on owner-occupier mortgages explains how lenders assess a company buying its own premises.

Glasgow has the most extensive urban rail network in the UK outside London, managed largely through the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, with Central and Queen Street as the two main terminals. Glasgow Central is the end of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, and Buchanan bus station is the main coach hub. Around 55% of residents in the Greater Glasgow area commute into the city every day.

For a buyer, that matters in two ways. Offices and shops near the stations draw staff and footfall from across the region, while industrial and distribution firms favour sites with fast access to the motorway network. A valuer will consider both when judging how readily a building could be re-let, which feeds directly into the loan the lender will offer.

Lenders active in owner-occupier lending typically advance 70 to 75% of the lower of price and valuation, with up to 80% for strong cases, at an indicative 6.0 to 7.5% a year over 5 to 25 years, with arrangement fees usually 1 to 2%. Hotels, pubs and restaurants are priced as trading businesses at an indicative 7.0 to 9.0%. All terms are subject to status, accounts and valuation.

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax replaces stamp duty. Revenue Scotland's non-residential bands take 0% of the first £150,000, 1% of the next £100,000 and 5% of anything above £250,000 (rates as at October 2026; check the current rates before you buy).

Illustrative example. An engineering company buys a workshop with offices for £900,000. A 75% loan is £675,000, leaving a £225,000 deposit. LBTT on £900,000 is £33,500, so the company needs about £258,500 in cash before fees. Our guide to stamp duty on commercial property compares the figure with the rest of the UK.

Glasgow City Council is the planning authority and has been responsible for all aspects of local government since Strathclyde was abolished in 1996. A lender's solicitor will check that your building's use is lawful for your trade, which matters for conversions such as warehouse to showroom or shop to restaurant.

Under Scots law your solicitor and the seller's conclude missives, which form the binding contract, and the lender takes a standard security registered in the Land Register of Scotland. Lending to a limited company for the premises it trades from 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. Our Scotland commercial mortgages page covers the national picture.