
"Standout" team providing legal advice
Robbie Mather, Head of Commercial Property
Business
Leisure and Tourism
Tourism is one of Cumbria’s most important industries, employing 65,000 people and bringing £3 billion into the economy.
Burnetts’ cross-discipline leisure, tourism and hospitality solicitor team
play a leading role in the sector with grounded, expert and specialist
legal advice.
The team work for a vast and diverse range of leisure and tourism clients, including hotels, restaurants, visitor attractions, leisure operators, B&Bs and tourism membership groups.
Our experience includes the following:
The 'standout' team has advised on the sale and acquisition of numerous hotels, caravan parks and leisure businesses throughout the Lake District, Cumbria and beyond. This includes the transfer of multi million pound luxury hotels, caravan parks and notably a £40 million acquisition of a globally recognised fast-food outlet franchise.
Described as 'unfailingly excellent', Burnetts, property specialists have advised on numerous acquisitions, sales, refinance and lettings of hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, pubs, time-shares and visitor attractions. We also have specialists who deal with associated licensing matters. Within the banking sector, and often working to challenging deadlines, our property team also provides due diligence support to enable tourism businesses to be financed or re-financed.
Our in-house planning experts work extensively in the sector helping tourist attractions, tour operators, caravan park owners and others to achieve their development and expansion goals, especially within the constraints of the Lake District National Park and World Heritage Site.
Burnetts’ 'go-to' team of employment lawyers and HR consultants provides the full range of support to leisure and tourism businesses including: the provision of seasonal and permanent employment contracts; day-to-day advice on managing grievances, absence and other HR issues; delivering high level support for difficult or sensitive employment tribunal claims.
Advice on commercial disputes is provided by our 'truly pragmatic' dispute resolution lawyers. They have helped accommodation providers, attractions and hospitality businesses with a wide range of commercial disputes, including property disputes, customer complaints, breach of contract claims and loss of tourist business.
Burnetts is a member of Cumbria Tourism and Keswick Tourism Association and works closely with several other leading sector organisations in the Lake District.



Robbie Mather
Head of Commercial Property
Robbie is a Partner and Head of Commercial Property team
Helen Hayward
Head of Commercial Property
Helen is a Partner and Head of Commercial Property team
James Johnston
Head of Dispute Resolution
James is a Partner and Head of the Dispute Resolution team
Sarah Willshire
Head of Banking and Property Finance
Sarah is a Partner and Head of Banking and Property Finance team
Rebecca Joy
Senior Associate
Rebecca is a Legal Director in Burnetts' Banking and Property Finance team
Ben Crystal
Associate Solicitor
Ben is an Associate Solicitor in Burnetts' Commercial Property team
Rebecca Davidson
Associate Solicitor
Rebecca is an Associate Solicitor in Burnetts' Commercial Property team
Anna Lovett
Senior Associate
Anna is an Senior Associate in Burnetts' Employment and HR team
Sue Scott
Practising Consultant
Sue is a Practicing Consultant in Burnetts' Commercial Property team
Jessica Quigley
Chartered Legal Executive
Jessica is a Chartered Legal Executive in Burnetts' Commercial Property team
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