Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Glasgow
A tenement basement is not the natural home of a commercial kitchen, but a good deal of Glasgow's restaurant trade runs from one. The kitchen went in down a close and a flight of stone steps, and the range, the dishwasher, the fridges and the cold room will need to come out the same way. That does not stop a sale. It changes how we run it.
Away from the centre the picture changes. The estates at Hillington and Queenslie hold food producers and distribution depots with staff kitchens beside the dock doors. Hotels serve the conference and event trade and turn their kitchens over when they refurbish.
We sell it all by online timed auction, with a viewing day at the premises and booked collection slots afterwards.
A range at the bottom of a stone stair
We start every city centre sale by walking the route out. A basement kitchen off a close has a stone stair, a low ceiling, a turn at the top and a door onto a street with loading restrictions. How a combination oven on a stand or a six burner range comes up that stair depends on its weight and on the handling equipment or specialist help the route needs. A walk in cold room is sold as a panel kit for the buyer to take apart in place, and canopies are cut into sections.
All of that goes in the listing, so buyers can price the labour before they bid and bring the right crew. Collection slots are booked so the close is not blocked twice over.
Where the stair defeats trade collection, the kitchen can be moved to our own premises for sale.
Reach across the central belt
Online bidding opens the sale to buyers from every part of the UK, and a great deal of trade sits well placed for the viewing day: Paisley, East Kilbride, Hamilton and Motherwell, Clydebank and Cumbernauld, and Edinburgh and Ayrshire on the motorways that meet around the city. Dealers who refurbish and resell catering equipment work here too, so volume lots such as runs of upright fridges, stainless steel benches, dishwashers and stacks of chairs are catalogued with them in mind.
What any of it makes depends on condition, specification, lotting, reserves and how hard the removal is. We give you our opinion on likely interest before you commit.
Canteens on the estates run the same way with a simpler collection, because lots can be loaded from a dock door where the site has one rather than carried up a stair.
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 Glasgow
- The restaurant is in a listed building. Does that affect what we can take out?
It can. Listed building consent covers alterations to the fabric, so cutting out a canopy, removing ductwork through a wall, lifting a tiled floor or taking out a fixed bar counter that has been there for decades may need consent or the landlord's agreement. Free standing equipment, ranges, fridges, dishwashers, tables and chairs, is not affected and can be sold as normal. We ask about listing when we walk the site and, where there is doubt, we leave the fixed items out of the sale rather than create a problem for you with the landlord.
- We run four cafes across the city and want to close two. Can one auction cover both sites?
Yes, and it usually makes sense. One catalogue with two sections, one viewing day split between the sites, one bidding period and a collection window for each address. The lots are listed by address so buyers know where they are collecting from, and you deal with one sale and one settlement. The two sites do not need to close on the same day. We can set collection for the first before the second stops trading, as long as the equipment is not needed to keep it open.
More questions about catering equipment