Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Norwich
A village pub in Norfolk usually sits on a lane, with a car park to one side and a kitchen added onto the back at some point in the last century. When the tenant leaves, the range, the fridges, the dishwasher and the dining room furniture are theirs to sell, and the collection is a van job on a road that a lorry would not enjoy. We plan a sale like that from the lane inwards.
The city adds hotels and restaurants in the older streets, and cafes in the retail units at Longwater and on Broadland Business Park. Food and drink manufacturers around the city add something rarer: development kitchens, fitted to test recipes at production scale, that come to market when a product line is dropped.
Bids are placed online and the sale is open to bidders anywhere in the UK, and Wymondham, Dereham, North Walsham, Great Yarmouth and Diss are close enough to walk the lots on the viewing day, as are the seasonal operators on the coast and the Broads.
Pubs on lanes and hotels on the coast
The profile of a rural sale is set by the vehicle that can reach it. We check the lane, the gateway, the turning space and the surface of the car park before we catalogue, and if a rigid lorry cannot get in we say so and tell buyers to bring a van. Heavy lots, a six burner range or a walk in cold room, go to buyers who send a crew, and we group them into one slot so the lane is not blocked all day.
Seasonal trade sets the calendar. Hotels and restaurants along the coast and around the Broads make their money between Easter and October, and some decide in November not to open again. A sale in the winter comes before the season rather than after it, and we time the close for that where the seller's dates allow.
Cellar equipment is worth including. Beer coolers, pythons and glasswashers suit other pubs, so long as they were bought rather than supplied under a dispense agreement.
Development kitchens at the food producers
Food and drink producers keep test kitchens that most people never see. A development kitchen has a domestic looking layout with commercial equipment inside it: combination ovens, blast chillers, vacuum packers, a small fryer, bench mixers, scales and probe thermometers, and a fridge for every stage of the recipe. When a product line is dropped or a producer consolidates two sites, that kitchen is sold with the factory.
The buyers are unusual. Other producers bid, but so do restaurants opening a tasting menu, catering colleges, hotel kitchens, and small food firms in the villages who want a blast chiller they could not afford new. We catalogue this kit in detail, with the model plates photographed, because it is the kind of lot somebody can bid on without visiting.
These kitchens are in factory buildings on the estates around the city, and where there is a loading bay and a forklift the lots leave on pallets. We check that before the catalogue goes out.
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 Norwich
- Our pub is on a single track lane. Will anyone come to collect?
Yes, provided they know what they are coming to. We put the access in the listing, with the width of the gateway and the state of the car park, so buyers of heavy lots can choose a vehicle and a crew that suit it. Where the lane is a real obstacle, the lots can be collected on a suitable vehicle and sold from our own premises. Either way, nobody is asked to bring a vehicle that will not fit.
- The restaurant was only open for the summer. Is there enough to sell?
Usually there is. A seasonal restaurant still has a range, refrigeration, a dishwasher, a coffee machine, a till and a dining room of furniture, and a short season means less wear on all of it. Small operators want the same things, and that is the market for a kitchen like this. If the value really is modest we say so, and we may suggest adding the lots to another sale nearby rather than running one on its own. We will give you a straight view after a visit.
More questions about catering equipment