James Shorthouse

A senior real estate professional with 30 years’ experience in the lease advisory field. Prior to joing Colliers in April 2018, I worked for 12 years at BNP Paribas Real Estate, where I led the lease advisory business line, launched its licensed leisure team and was a Trustee of the pension fund.

I am an expert in the licensed & leisure market, focussed on delivering property cost reduction and value added solutions for pub and restaurant businesses, as well as advising investors with holdings in the wider leisure sector, including health & fitness, cinema, bowling and other leisure uses.

I have extensive experience of Central London pub, bar, nightclub and restaurant rent review disputes, acting either as expert witness or as Arbitrator.

I am appointed to the RICS President's panel of dispute resolvers, qualified to act as an arbitrator in pub and restaurant disputes in London and the South-East.

Paul is a Chartered Surveyor who has significant experience in the licensed and leisure sectors. He is active in single and portfolio valuations, lease renewals and rent reviews (including arbitrations), undertakes expert witness work, provides development advice, acts on agency matters (sales, acquisitions and lettings),  and advises on alternative use situations.

He acts for a wide variety of national and local, large and small operators, publicly funded bodies, landlords, developers, tenants, trustees, administrators, liquidators, banks  and financiers.  His current sector involvement includes Bars, Public Houses, Restaurants and Leisure, though he specialises in all aspects of commercial licensed and leisure work.

He is the Director in charge of the Licensed and Leisure department in Scotland, liaising with the national team located in offices throughout the UK.

Mark is an experienced negotiator and lease advisory expert working in our specialist Licensed & Leisure team.  He is a Chartered Surveyor and Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

For the last 19 years he has specialised in the leisure sector.  Mark deals with lease advisory, asset management and valuation of properties across a variety of sub-sectors. Mark is an experienced expert witness regularly dealing with complex disputes, referrals to arbitration, independent expert determination and court.

Niall is a specdialist in Lease Advisory with a focus on Retail and Leisure.

He has a BSc(Hons) degree in Land Management form Portsmouth Polytechnic,  is a Member of the RICS,  a RICS registered valuer and  holds a diploma in Arbitration.

Niall was appointed to the President of the RICS Arbitration Panel where he arbitrates on both retail and leisure premises across the country.

in addition Niall also acts for various clients on Section 18 Dilapidation disputes.

Chris has extensive experience in the valuation of licensed, leisure and hospitality assets, including pubs, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, bingo clubs and casinos.

Although currently focused primarily on loan security valuations for various banks and lending institutions, Chris undertakes valuations for a range of purposes including company accounting, purchase, sale, and strategic advice.

Chris also has considerable experience in the field of business rates, having previously advised numerous national bar and pub operators on business rates appeals, liability and mitigation strategies. This experience notably includes appearances at Valuation Tribunal.

Paul joined the Licensed and Leisure team in 2019, after 7 years experience of working in the retail and leisure teams at Montagu Evans and Morgan Williams.  Specialising in the restaurant, bars and gym sectors, he uses his experience and brand knowledge to offer advice to Landlords, Developers and Occupiers.

Services Paul provides include Landlord and Occupier Disposals, Asset Management, Development Consultancy,  Occupier Acquisitions, Lease Re-gears and Rental Valuations.

Abban studied Economic and Social Studies (BA Econ) at the University of Manchester before working in telecommunications and media company for three years. Abban then decided to pursue a career in real estate, he attended the University of Westminster to study Real Estate Development for his masters and achieved a distinction.   Abban joined the Licensed & Leisure department in 2018 and works within the agency and lease advisory teams.

Abban has experience in acquiring for gym, restaurant and bar operators, as well as leasing of units for leisure, entertainment and catering uses.  Abban has extensive experience in the London and Manchester leisure markets.

Key clients include F45, The Foundry, Various Eateries (Strada, Coppa Club etc), Peel Land & Property and Stonegate.

Outside of work Abban is a keen footballer captaining UCL Old Boys’ every Saturday.

Tom joined Colliers in September 2017 on the Graduate Scheme in the London - West End office having graduated from Nottingham Trent University with First Class Honours in BSc Real Estate.

Tom works within the Rating department advising a variety of clients on their business rates liability. Tom spent 2 years within the Licensed & Leisure department and continues to provide specialised business rates advice to a range of leisure/hospitality clients. 

Maddi  joined Colliers in September 2019 as part of their Graduate Scheme after graduating from the University of Reading with an MSc in Real Estate. Prior to her MSc, she graduated from the University of Southampton with a first class Honours Degree in Geography. As part of her graduate scheme, Maddi undertook rotations in Licensed & Leisure Agency, Valuation & Advisory Services and Retail Capital Markets, and  passed her APC to become a Chartered Surveyor and Registered Valuer in November 2021.

Following this, Maddi re-joined the Valuation & Advisory Services department, where she now works as a Senior Surveyor.  She currently works on a variety of commercial valuations across a variety of commercial asset types for both loan security and accounts purposes.  She is also a member of the Valuation Department ESG Steering Group. 

Colin is a Consultant  (formerly Head of Licensed and Leisure in the North West) at the Manchester office and has more than 45 years experience in licensed property. He specialises in dispute resolution of licensed premises. He is a qualified arbitrator and sits on the RICS rent review panel for the North West and Midlands.

I originally trained with a long established firm of Chartered Surveyors based in Manchester and have been working in the licensed, leisure and hotel property market since 1987. I joined Colliers in 2007 to head up our UK Corporate hotel operation. I was appointed Head of UK Hotel Agency during 2011.  Since the beginning of 2003 I have sold or acquired over 100 provincial hotels on behalf of clients of asking prices ranging from £1.2m to in excess of £20m.  In addition to the managerial responsibilities, I remain focused on handling larger private and corporate hotel transactions throughout the UK.

I am a Director in the UK Hotels department based in London and Manchester.  As Head of the Hotels Valuation team I regularly present to property professionals and operators on matters affecting the hotel industry and provide valuation and other advice for a variety of purposes. 

I have thirty years experience within the hotel and resorts sector.

This covers all areas from line management within operations, consulting advisory and corporate finance and property strategies.

I have even been an owner of my own hotel which I sold at the beginning of 2007.

I specialise in new hotel development and financing solutions within the hotel sector and in Management Agreements.

Resorts are a particular passion and I have a great deal of experience with these from inception to operations

Over a career that spans more than 28 years Ben has developed his expertise within the sector working in a variety of management roles in a diverse range of hotel properties and brands both in the UK and overseas.

At the start of his career, post-graduation and after a number of years as a Graduate Trainee for Commonwealth Hotels of Canada, Ben quickly advanced into General Manager roles and subsequently became Regional Director.

Working principally in the capital markets in healthcare transactions, overseeing deals with lot sizes of between £5m and £300m for both operational businesses and investment sales. Also providing strategic portfolio and real estate advice, exit strategies and portfolio valuations for a number of the largest care providers and healthcare funds both in the UK and Europe.

Specilaist sectors include elderly care, private hospials, senior living and specialist adult services.  

John has worked within this niche sector for many years and has been a member of the Colliers International Automotive and Roadside Team for over 15 years. His specialist areas of expertise include motor dealerships, car supermarkets, after sales retail networks including motorist centres, trade counter, drive thru' and roadside retail properties.

He acts on behalf of some of the lead investors, developers and occupiers within these sectors dealing with professional, agency, development and investment matters. His clients include, Arnold Clark, Volkswagen Group, Johnsons Cars, AEW, EG Group, CBRE Investors, Formula One Autocentres and Listers Group.

Richard is the Head of UK Parks Agency for Colliers International. Having first obtained practical experience of the operation of a holiday park business, he now has 15 years experience in the sale and valuation of UK holiday parks.

He simultaneously obtained his degree in Estate Management and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in November 2006.

Richard was promoted to Associate Director in January 2008, to Director in July 2010 and to Department Head in January 2013. 

Richard is recognised as one of the leading agents in this specialist field and continues to focus on providing agency advice to private, multiple and corporate holiday park operators and primarily covers the north of England and Scotland.