Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Leeds
Leeds sells a lot of catering equipment because Leeds opens a lot of bars. The city centre trade turns over fast, with restaurants and late bars changing hands as leases end and operators move on, and the hotels that serve the business district refit on a regular cycle. That gives a steady supply of good commercial kitchens and front of house furniture, most of it only a few years old.
South of the centre, the food production firms in Hunslet and Stourton keep staff canteens and development kitchens, and the distribution sheds around Leeds Valley Park have canteens of their own. When those sites close the catering equipment is sold alongside the rest.
We run online timed auctions for both. The city sales need careful collection planning. The estate sales need a forklift. Tell us which you have and the date the building must be empty.
Late bars and business hotels in the city centre
A city centre bar sale in Leeds is mostly about the bar. Remote beer coolers, glass fronted bottle fridges, ice machines, glasswashers and the back bar counters are what the trade wants, and what they make depends on their age, their condition and how easily they come out. The kitchen behind it is often small, a flat top grill, a fryer, a griddle and an under counter fridge or two. The furniture can be worth more than the kitchen if it is decent, particularly banquette seating and solid tables.
Hotel kitchens are bigger and more valuable. Combination ovens, banqueting equipment, a pass through dishwasher line and a cold room are typical. Where a hotel has a service entrance and a goods lift the collection is straightforward, and we check both on the visit.
Access for bars in the pedestrian core is the problem to plan for. Delivery windows are short and the streets are busy. We book collection slots first thing in the morning and put the access details in the listing so buyers arrive with the right vehicle.
Rent quarter days and other deadlines
Leases often run to the usual quarter days. If yours ends on one, the auction wants to close a week or more before it, so that buyers can collect and the unit can be cleaned and the gas capped by a registered engineer before the landlord inspects. That points to cataloguing three or four weeks ahead, with the run depending on how many lots there are and the access. Earlier is easier.
Insolvency sales run to a different clock. If an administrator or liquidator has been appointed, the landlord may want the premises back quickly and the sale has to move. We can catalogue within days and run a shorter bidding window.
Refits are simpler, because the builders set the date and we work back from it.
Bidding is online and open across the UK, and the trade in Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Harrogate and York is well placed for the viewing day.
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 Leeds
- We are a restaurant group closing two sites in Leeds at once. Can they go in one auction?
Yes, and it usually makes sense. One catalogue with two collection addresses means one sale and one set of arrangements. We list the lots by site so a buyer knows where they are collecting from, and the two collection days can run back to back. If the two leases end on different dates, we time the sale to the earlier one. Tell us both addresses and both dates when you get in touch.
- Who cleans the kitchen after the sale?
Not the buyers. They take their lots and leave, and the kitchen is left as it was minus the equipment. Your lease will set out the condition the unit has to be left in, so check it and book a deep clean for the day after collection, or have it done before the viewing. Grease behind a range that has stood for ten years is usually worse than people expect. We will tell you what condition to expect once we have seen the site.
More questions about catering equipment