Hospitality & Leisure Lawyers Manchester

Running a restaurant, bar, cafe, hotel or leisure venue means legal questions arrive in the middle of service. Our hospitality lawyers work with owners and operators across Manchester and the UK on contracts, leases, staff, brands and sales. We explain every document clearly so you can proceed with confidence.

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Hospitality Legal Services

Buying or Selling a Hospitality Business

We advise owners buying or selling a restaurant, pub, bar, cafe or hotel business, from heads of terms and due diligence to the sale agreement. We explain share and asset sales, bookings and deposits, stock, staff and what a buyer will check.

Restaurant, Bar and Hotel Leases

A restaurant lease lawyer reviews and negotiates the terms that decide how a site can trade, including rent, rent reviews, repair duties, permitted use and rights to assign. We advise before you sign and before you fit out or expand.

Franchise Agreements for Restaurants and Cafes

A restaurant franchise lawyer advises franchisors building a network and franchisees reviewing terms before they sign. We cover fees, territory, brand standards, renewal and what happens when the agreement ends.

Supplier and Commercial Contracts

Hospitality businesses rely on suppliers, equipment providers, delivery partners and venue or event hire arrangements. We draft and review these contracts, so pricing, liability, payment and termination are agreed before service starts.

Employment Contracts and Staff Policies

Hospitality teams often include part time, seasonal and zero hours staff. We draft employment contracts, handbooks and policies that match how rotas work and advise when a restructure or exit needs handling carefully.

Brand and Trademark Protection

A name and logo carry real value in hospitality. We advise on trademark registration, brand licensing and protecting your brand as you open new sites or franchise.

Customer and Staff Data Protection

Booking systems, loyalty schemes, CCTV and staff records all involve personal data. We advise on privacy notices, data sharing terms and UK GDPR compliance, and on what to do after a data breach.

Setting Up and Structuring a Hospitality Business

The right structure affects liability, tax and how partners or investors join. We advise on company formation, shareholder and partnership agreements and buyouts, so ownership questions are settled before you open.

Outsourced General Counsel for Multi-Site Groups

Groups with several sites and no in-house lawyer can use our outsourced general counsel service for contracts, risk and day to day questions, on a retained or on demand basis.

Commercial Disputes (Pre-Litigation)

When a disagreement with a supplier, landlord or partner starts, early steps often settle it. We review the contract, set out your position in a letter and negotiate a settlement. We provide pre-litigation advice only.

Contact Us for Hospitality Legal Support

A lease waiting for signature, a supplier contract with unclear terms or a sale with a fixed completion date cannot wait for a quiet week. We work directly with you to deal with the legal side quickly, so you can get back to running the business. Get in touch today for a consultation.

Contact Us info@marlegal.co.uk

Recent Case Studies

Fast food takeaway business

We carried out due diligence and handled an M&A transaction for a fast food takeaway business.

Due diligence is the checking done before a business changes hands. On this takeaway deal it covered the lease, the supplier and delivery platform contracts, the staff contracts and who owned the brand.

We also advised the business on protecting its brand. For a takeaway the brand is often the main asset because the name and logo are what customers recognise. Protecting it matters more as the business adds sites or joins delivery apps.

Hands holding a takeaway burger and fries in cardboard boxes

Details are kept anonymous to protect our clients.

Why Choose MAR Legal for Hospitality Legal Support

Solicitor Led

Hospitality matters are handled by solicitors who work at MAR Legal, with direct access throughout.

Practical, Commercial Advice

Direct guidance focused on keeping your venue trading, not just the legal position.

Fixed Fee Pricing

Know the cost before we start, with no hourly billing surprises.

Local Presence

Our Manchester based hospitality lawyers are on hand when needed.

Trusted by hospitality businesses across Manchester and the UK for fixed fee, practical legal advice.

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Meet the Founder

Marium brings 22 years of experience advising hospitality businesses on corporate, employment, dispute resolution and regulatory matters across the UK and internationally. A practising solicitor regulated by the SRA (ID: 277854) and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators MCIArb, she leads MAR Legal’s hospitality sector.

Marium Razzaq - Solicitors in Manchester
Marium Razzaq
Solicitor & Director Mar Legal
MCIArb

What Our Clients Say

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KOTA
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They handled it wonderfully.
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George Alexopoulos
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Umar Razzaq at MAR Legal is sharp, honest and responsive, and excellent on the detail. Great outcome. Highly recommended.
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Olamide Aribigbela
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Really happy with the service from MAR Legal. They were very professional, helpful and efficient throughout the whole process. They handled all my documents quickly and carefully, and made everything simple and stress-free. Would definitely recommend MAR Legal to anyone looking for a reliable and professional solicitor!
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Mrs Whitbread
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Great service. Very responsive and great at explaining everything I needed. Thanks
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Rachel Marsden
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Very professional and clear advice. Easy to understand and handled with appropriate sensitivity and confidentiality.
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Gillian Fletcher
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Excellent Service, quick and efficient and clear communications throughout. Thank you.
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Faye McCarthy
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I used MAR Legal for a commercial lease on a property in Stockport. Had my initial consultation at their Spinningfields office, where I dealt directly with Marium, one of the directors. She walked me through the lease terms and the timeline upfront, so I knew what to expect at each stage. Would use them again for commercial property work in the Manchester area.
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Chris Johnson
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MAR legal helped with ILA which my mortgage lender required. They acted very quickly and at a good price. Great service.
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Arsa Syed
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Very professional and helpful. I would definitely recommend using them and will be back if I need any legal work done!!
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Amir Abbou
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They provided professional, sharp, and responsive counsel. their contractual analysis was strong, and their advice was genuinely practical and commercially minded.
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Hospitality Law FAQs

Not for everything, but it pays off where mistakes are costly: signing a lease, buying or selling a business, taking on a franchise, agreeing a major supplier contract or setting up staff contracts. A review before you sign is usually cheaper than fixing a problem afterwards. Day to day running rarely needs a lawyer, so many owners use legal advice at a handful of key moments.

Most new venues need a lease, supplier and equipment contracts, employment contracts, a staff handbook and a privacy notice covering customer and booking data. Several owners should also have a shareholder’s agreement. The business name is worth registering as a trademark early. Licences and registrations are applied for through your local council, so they run alongside these documents rather than replacing them.

Start with whether the deal is a share sale or an asset sale, because that decides which contracts and liabilities transfer. Then check the lease, supplier contracts, bookings and deposits, stock, staff transfer rights under TUPE and whether the premises licence can move to the buyer. Sellers should be clear on warranties and indemnities, which can carry personal risk after completion.

Several apply at once. Common ones include the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Food Safety Act 1990, the Licensing Act 2003, the Equality Act 2010, employment law and UK GDPR. Which matter most depends on whether you serve food or alcohol, run events or hold guest data. Where a matter involves reserved legal activities, we work alongside appropriately regulated professionals.

Yes, at the early stage. We review the contract, set out your position in a letter and negotiate a settlement, which resolves most commercial disagreements without court. We provide pre-litigation advice only. If proceedings are needed, we work alongside appropriately regulated professionals, and the groundwork done earlier, such as a clear paper trail of the contract and your correspondence, usually makes that step simpler.