Tourism & Leisure

Tourism and Leisure Sector Solicitors

Whether you are running a flourishing long-standing theme park or attraction, a recognised destination hotel and spa, or are launching your first restaurant, one common theme is the need to have proactive solicitors, who are familiar with the tourism and leisure sector, on your side.

At Fraser Dawbarns, our solicitors have been helping hospitality and leisure sector businesses to grow and thrive for many years.

Why work with our Tourism and Leisure sector solicitors?

While there are variations in the needs of businesses in the tourism and leisure sector, there are also some common themes. Fraser Dawbarns has specialist solicitors in each of these fields who will work together to ensure the commercial outcomes that you need.

Property

Most tourism and leisure sector businesses either own or lease their premises. Whether you are running a wildlife park, a golf course, a wine bar or nightclub, or one of the many fantastic hotels or gastro pubs in the area, you will need to have commercial premises which meet your needs and are legally compliant.

If you lease your premises, you will also need to ensure that you do this on the best possible terms, giving you the option to renew or exit at times and costs that give minimum disruption to your business. You can find out more about all our commercial property services, including buying, selling or leasing premises, here (link).

When it comes to the end of your lease, whether you are the landlord or the tenant, you will need to agree dilapidations with the other party. The topic of dilapidations seldom raises its head at the start of the lease but it’s a major concern for both parties when your lease comes to an end.

Employment Law solicitors for Tourism & Leisure

Most businesses in the tourism and leisure industry employ a team of people to help them deliver a top notch service to their customers or clients. Employment law is one of the most rapidly changing legal fields and having access to solicitors who can help you keep abreast of the changes is key to the smooth running of your business.

The Fraser Dawbarns team can help you to take preventive steps to protect your business. For instance, we can help you to set up or review your recruitment procedures, your employment contracts, your employee handbook and your tips policy. We can also advise on your approach to seasonal workers and temporary workers, and on visa compliance if you are employing foreign nationals.

Our solicitors are also able to assist if you run into more difficult situations with employees such as grievances, disciplinaries and employment tribunal claims. You can find out more about the ways in which our leisure industry employment solicitors might help you protect your business and resolve employment issues here or call us for individual information.

Corporate and Commercial law advice

Running a business within the leisure and tourism sector can be incredibly demanding on your time and therefore businesses in this sector generally involve more than one person. If you operate your business with a business partner, or together you are shareholders in the same company, you should have either a shareholder agreement or a partnership agreement to protect the future smooth running of the business. These agreements will give you both great piece of mind to know what do if, in the unlikely event, you decide to part ways or want to bring a new partner in for an ever-expanding business.

You may also need advice on the best structure for your business at the outset, or on moving from one business structure to another as your business grows.

Whatever your chosen business structure, you will need appropriate and up-to-date contracts with suppliers, and possibly with commercial partners or tour operators.

As your business activities expand, you may wish to merge, enter into a new joint venture, purchase another business, or sell your thriving enterprise to another organisation. We can advise you in relation to any of these transactions. We can also advise entrepreneurs who are seeking to become franchisees or existing franchisees who are choosing to sell their franchise.

Resolving Tourism & Leisure Industry disputes

Commercial disputes are relatively common in the leisure sector and, when they do occur, the priority will be to resolve them quickly and with minimum disruption to your business. Whether they relate to your premises, your commercial suppliers, your employees or your customers, our lawyers are here to help. Our lawyers will always do what they can to resolve matters outside of Court but are also experienced in conducting multi-million pound commercial disputes through the Court system.

You can find out more about our property dispute specialists here or our general commercial disputes solicitors here.

Protecting your Leisure business

Businesses in the tourism and leisure sector are often heavily reliant on a few key individuals to drive the operation forward. Sometimes these are family members, sometimes not. Whatever the structure of your business, it is important to think about what would happen if something unexpected occurred to prevent a key member of the team from working, whether short term or permanently. There are different options to consider in terms of enabling financial decisions to be made, bank balances accessed and so on. In some instances having a business-related Lasting Power of Attorney may be an option and we can advise on these.

Why choose Fraser Dawbarns for Tourism and Leisure legal work?

Long-established holiday destinations such as the North Norfolk Coast and the Norfolk Broads remain popular and overseas visitors continue to flock to well-known destinations such as Cambridge and Sandringham. Although there is a seasonal aspect to some of our local tourism and leisure businesses, there are many which have a very strong local trade and are vibrant throughout the year.

There are many opportunities presented to local leisure business owners, but these are balanced by the challenges of economic and legal changes which require ongoing support. At Fraser Dawbarns, our team is geared up to being alongside you and advising as and when needed to help you continue to meet your business objectives.

For individual advice, contact us on info@fraserdawbarns.com or complete our contact form.