Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Cardiff
Cardiff has a bar and restaurant trade that turns over quickly. The centre and the Bay fill with visitors on match days and event weekends, and a bar built for those crowds is quiet the rest of the week. Some operators make it work. Others hand the keys back after a couple of years with a fit out that cost a great deal and has barely worn in.
That matters to a seller. A two year old bar with its coolers, glasswashers, ice machine and furniture still in good order is the kind of stock the trade looks for, and bidding runs online and is not limited to the area, with Newport, Barry, Bridgend and Pontypridd within easy reach of a viewing day.
We catalogue at the premises, run the auction over a week or two, manage collection through the back door in booked slots, and account to you once the sale is reconciled from cleared funds. If a lease ends on a quarter day we work back from it.
Bars built for match days and the weeks between
A bar fitted out for event trade has more dispense than most. Long counters, multiple glasswashers, big bottle coolers, ice machines, remote beer cellars and a till system with several terminals. When it closes, that equipment splits into two markets. The coolers and glasswashers suit pubs and bars in the city and the valleys. The counters, the seating, the lighting and the till hardware suit a dealer or a fit out, and those lots are described in full because they can be bid on without a visit.
Food is often a smaller part of these sales, a short cooking line for burgers and pizza, a couple of fryers, a griddle and a combination oven, but it suits the same trade.
The Bay and the centre are street sites. Collection is by van, early, with slots booked so buyers are not queuing on the pavement. Where a cellar is below street level, the route out for the coolers and the cellar cooling plant is agreed with the buyer before collection day.
Studio canteens and production catering kit
The media and studio businesses in the Bay bring a kind of kitchen that other cities do not have much of. Production catering is mobile and heavy: catering trailers, field kitchens, hot cupboards on wheels, urns, insulated food carriers and folding tables in quantity. When a production company winds up or a caterer stops trading, that equipment suits other production caterers, event caterers, hire firms and festival operators, and because bidding is online the market for it is not limited to Wales.
Studio buildings also run staff canteens, and those are catalogued like any other site canteen, with the loading and lifting arrangements checked on the visit.
The food and drink producers on the eastern estates at Wentloog and Lamby Way add development kitchens and canteens of their own. We check the approach, the yard and the loading arrangements on those estates before the catalogue says what vehicle to bring.
What these sales can include
- Cooking ranges and ovens
- Combination ovens
- Fryers and griddles
- Cold rooms and walk in freezers
- Upright and under counter refrigeration
- Display and serve over counters
- Dishwashers and glasswashers
- Ice machines
- Espresso machines and grinders
- Stainless steel tables and sinks
- Extraction canopies
- Bar equipment and beer coolers
- Tables, chairs and banquette seating
- Tills and till systems
How the sale runs
We visit, agree what is in the sale and catalogue it. Each lot is photographed and described as it stands, with known faults noted. The sale is listed online and marketed to operators and dealers across the UK. Buyers view on a set day and bid online, with lots closing in sequence on the sale date.
Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately. We take payment before anything is released.
Collection follows over a window agreed with you. Buyers arrange and pay for removal, and our staff attend so that services are dealt with correctly and the premises are left as agreed with the landlord.
The catering and hospitality equipment auctions page covers what a catering sale looks like, disconnecting services and extraction, what your lease allows you to sell, clean it, label it, leave it working.
Questions about selling in Cardiff
- The bar lease ends on the March quarter day. When do we need to start?
Six weeks or so is a comfortable run, and the timetable depends on how many lots there are, the access and the date the keys go back. Allow a few days to catalogue and photograph, a viewing day, a week or two of bidding and a collection window of two or three days before the term ends. Starting later is possible, but it leaves less time for cataloguing and for buyers to view. If you are already inside six weeks, call anyway: the equipment can come to our own premises and be sold there after the lease has ended.
- Our catering trailers are stored on a yard in Newport, not in Cardiff. Does that matter?
No. We sell from wherever the equipment is, and a yard is a better place to sell trailers from than a studio car park. We photograph them there, run the viewing there and have buyers collect with their own tow vehicles from there. If the yard owner wants them gone by a set date, tell us and we set the collection window before it. A current gas safety certificate and a clean interior give buyers more to go on, so both are worth sorting before the viewing day.
More questions about catering equipment