About
Professional Summary
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.
Accomplishments
National team - one of my objectives at Colliers is to create a licensed leisure lease advisory team with truly national coverage. We now have experts working out of our London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow offices.
JD Wetherspoon - my teams have secured rent review savings totalling £95.5m over the last 20 years
Market Porter, Borough Market - acting for the freeholder, a charity, of this pub overlooking Borough Market, in respect of the 2016 rent review, I negotiated a 240% rent increase to £240,000 per annum
Central London Gym - acting for the freeholder of a 25,000 sq ft gym located in central London, I have negotiated rent increases for three consecutive rent reviews
Transactions - I have secured £90m of freehold assets for purchase by pub clients in the last 4 years
Education
Memberships & Involvements
Member of RICS
Holder of RICS Diploma in Arbitration
RICS dispute resolution panel
Active involvement with the property commitee of UK Hospitality (formerly ALMR), helping to raise awareness of topical issues affecting the pub and restaurant sectors
Testimonials
"We’re very happy if you keep doing what you’re doing, staying alert for tying down good sites and generally adopting a hard as hell approach, keep squeezing the grapes! Your team's rent review efforts have been absolutely virtuoso over the years.”
Tim Martin, Chairman, JD Wetherspoon
Services
Skills
Service Lines
Property Type
My Team
My Team
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 18 years he has specialised in the leisure sector, dealing with rent reviews, lease renewals, and lease re-structuring. Mark is an experienced expert witness regularly dealing with complex disputes, referrals to arbitration, independent expert determination and court.
Niall Cassidy
Director - Lease Advisory
Birmingham
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 and is a Member of the RICS, an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators 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.
Colin is Head of Licensed & Leisure at the Manchester office and has more than 40 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. He also is an RICS Registered Valuer and is active in the agency market.
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 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.
Ross has specialised in the leisure, entertainment and F&B sectors for over 15 years. He has helped shape some of the UK’s most recognised leisure brands, the largest landlords and the sector’s most exciting newcomers.
If you are looking to expand or lease space in this broad and diverse sector coving Restaurants and Bars through to Gyms, Cinemas and Casinos he would be happy to help.
He is a Chartered Surveyor and past Chairman of the Restaurant Property Advisors Society.
James Shorthouse
Head of Alternative Markets
London - West End
James is one of the UK's leading advisers in Pub, Bar, Restaurant and Leisure sectors. He has worked in the sector for over 30 years, a period during which the sector has undergone enormous changes in its operational, ownership and regulatory structures.
Acting on behalf of major operators, investors and banks on portfolios and high value single assets, James' operator clients include Greene King, Ei group, Casual Dining Group, and Novus. On the investor side, for many years he advised Nomura and Terra Firma, worked closely with Cerberus on all of its leisure sector investments and has recently advised Patron Capital, Stellex and NewRiver.
Within Colliers International, James heads up the UK Licensed & Leisure team and also runs the businesses Alternative Markets Division which encompasses Hotels, Automotive, Healthcare, and other specialist Leisure teams.
Throughout his career James has advised major UK and International lenders, both on new lending and on developing and executing exit strategies for distressed lending positions. His team have worked with a number of F&B operators to rationalise their portfolios and have advised landlords on how to preserve value and retain tenants in difficult times.
Tom is a trusted advisor and skilled negotiator with 10 years industry experience. He is a member of the Licensed & Leisure team dealing with all aspects of the market, from crafting new lettings to securing the best rents for his clients at rent review and lease renewal.
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.