An entrepreneur has received funding to transform the upstairs of his Prestwick restaurant into a hotel.

The restaurateur has hailed £1.14 million in backing for the new venture.

Reward Funding has provided the finance solution to Perry Uppal of R&J Uppal Holdings to convert the upstairs area of his restaurant, The Taj Bar and Kitchen, into a ten-bedroom hotel.

The deal completes the transformation of the new four-star boutique hotel and unlocks business growth opportunities.

The funding solution has allowed the conversion of 3,875 square feet of space above its Prestwick restaurant.

The newly opened DeiRa Hotel & Apartments are "designed to meet the increased demand for high-quality accommodation from golf tourism – a market that is worth £40m each year to the Ayrshire economy".

The firm said: "The Ayrshire coast is world-renowned for golf, boasting over 40 courses, including many of championship standard such as Trump Turnberry, Royal Troon and Dundonald Links.

"The family-run restaurant and hotel business is part of R&J Uppal Holdings Ltd, which boasts an extensive property portfolio, comprising of other commercial and residential properties in Prestwick."

The facility provided highlights Reward’s "ongoing expansion in the commercial property sector". The Dunfermline-based lender "provides property investors and businesses with decisive and dependable asset-secured funding solutions and has this year reached the milestone of lending over £25m to companies across Scotland".

 

Perry Uppal, director of R&J Uppal Holdings, said: "We recognised that expanding our existing restaurant business - by creating a new luxury boutique hotel - would enable us to drive further business growth and capitalise on the lucrative golf tourism industry across the Ayrshire coast.

"We’d struggled to secure funding through banks, which meant seizing this market opportunity would only be made possible if we could move quickly and find an alternative lender that understand our vision for the business and could deliver a tailored solution.

"The team at Reward have gone above and beyond to provide working capital at a pace needed to meet construction deadlines, minimise disruption to our restaurant business and open before the end of the golf tourism season."

Lucie Martin, business development director for Reward Funding in Scotland, said: "We are seeing a significant increase in Scottish property investors and businesses approaching us because they have been unsuccessful in securing finance from traditional funders. Our purpose is to fill the void left by banks and offer an alternative solution which unlocks business growth opportunities for companies across a range of sectors. This also plays a wider role in ensuring the Scottish economy doesn’t stand still or even retract due to a shortage of finance.

"It’s been a pleasure working with Perry to provide the funding as a catalyst for future business growth and we look forward to supporting them every step of the way."

The deal between R&J Uppal Holdings Ltd and Reward Funding was introduced by Robert Perrie from TWO Business Finance.