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Reinventing resilience: How UK hospitality is navigating 2025
The UK hospitality and leisure sector is no stranger to headwinds. But the first half of 2025 has tested even the most agile operators: mounting cost pressures, shifting consumer behaviour, and ongoing workforce challenges in an already trying environment. Still, signs of smart recovery are emerging.
About OakNorth Bank
E2E Tech 100: The problem with one-size-fits-all banking (and how to fix it)
When a hotel owner told us, “My bank has decided they’re not lending to hotels right now. Can you help?” – we didn’t just listen. We acted.
In his latest piece for The Independent, Ben Barbanel, Head of Debt Finance at OakNorth, explores what that moment revealed about the disconnect between banks and growing businesses, and why blending advanced tech with human judgment is essential for delivering truly personalised banking.
Growing your business
Mastering marketing for scaling businesses: Insights from OakNorth x Launch Lab panel
We hosted a panel, in partnership with Launch Lab, exploring how scaling businesses can master modern marketing. Featuring insights from SLIP, Wander, and OakNorth, this session covered brand strategy, performance marketing, storytelling, AI, and team-building. Learn what it takes to align your marketing with growth, and why clarity, consistency, and creativity are key to sustainable success.
Real estate
Residential development in 2025: What’s shaping delivery now
The UK’s residential development landscape in 2025 is defined by complexity. While appetite remains strong, the journey from site acquisition to delivery is not always straightforward. Developers are operating in a high-cost, high-risk environment, navigating tighter margins, shifting regulations, and slower buyer demand.
About OakNorth Bank
Backing ambition through cycles
Since launching in 2015, we’ve navigated our fair share of volatility – from Brexit, global pandemic, inflation and interest rate spikes, and shifting political landscapes. Each of these events brought fresh challenges for businesses across the UK.
But through every cycle, one thing has remained constant: OakNorth’s commitment to supporting lower mid-market businesses (with £1m-£100m in turnover) with the funding they need to seize opportunity, even in uncertain times.
About OakNorth Bank
Spotlight on Stewart Haworth: Building OakNorth’s regional presence
Since joining OakNorth in 2019, Stewart Haworth has played a key role in expanding the bank’s corporate and private equity offering outside of London. As a Director of Debt Finance in Manchester, he’s been instrumental in strengthening our regional presence and working with some of the UK’s most well-known businesses and entrepreneurs.
We caught up with Stewart to hear about his journey, what makes OakNorth different, and what he enjoys most about his role.
Business finance
Building momentum: What’s next for residential development in 2025?
For ambitious UK businesses, breaking into the US market can be game-changing. With a population of over 340 million and accounting for around a quarter of global GDP in 2024, the United States represents an incredibly attractive growth opportunity — one defined by scale, innovation, and potential reach.
About OakNorth Bank
Crossing the pond: Funding ambition on both sides of the Atlantic
For ambitious UK businesses, breaking into the US market can be game-changing. With a population of over 340 million and accounting for around a quarter of global GDP in 2024, the United States represents an incredibly attractive growth opportunity — one defined by scale, innovation, and potential reach.