Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Peterborough
Peterborough feeds a lot of shift workers. The distribution sheds at the Gateway site beside the A1(M), the depots on Fengate and the food and packaging plants across the city all run canteens, most of them under a catering contract that changes hands every few years. Each changeover puts a kitchen on the market, and those kitchens are the bulk of what we sell here.
The rest comes from the market towns. Stamford, Oundle, Wisbech, March and Spalding have coaching inns, hotels and restaurants that change tenants, and a pub kitchen in a stone building in Stamford is a very different collection job from a servery in a shed at Alwalton.
We sell both by online timed auction, and we do not mind which. Tell us what the building is, when it has to be empty and who else is on site, and we will plan from there.
Canteens beside the A1(M) and on Eastern Industry
A depot canteen at the Gateway site or on Fengate is usually a kitchen with a goods door and a yard, and where there is a loading bay and a forklift it is among the simpler catering sales to run. We confirm both on the visit. The equipment is volume kit: combination ovens, a hot servery, upright and under counter refrigeration, a pass through dishwasher, vending machines and a dining hall of tables and chairs. Much of it goes out on pallets once the collection window opens.
Timing is set by the contract. A leaving caterer wants its kitchen sold before the handover date, and an incoming one may want to bid for the lot in place. We run the viewing and the close before the changeover, with collection in the days after, or arrange a private treaty sale between the two if that suits both.
Food and packaging plants sell their canteens the same way, with the difference that the buyer's crew works to the site's hygiene rules.
Coaching inns and hotels in the market towns
The buyers for a canteen and the buyers for a coaching inn kitchen overlap, but the jobs do not. An inn in Stamford or Oundle has a kitchen at the back of a listed building, a yard entered through an arch built for a horse, a cellar bar with coolers and a python, and a stair with a turn in it. We measure the arch before we catalogue the range.
Front of house is where these sales differ from a canteen sale. Solid tables, upholstered chairs, banquette seating and bar furniture suit other pubs and cafes, the Fens are well placed for the viewing day, and furniture lots well in quantity for a dealer.
Rural sites around Whittlesey and March can be a long way from a main road. We check the approach for a rigid lorry and tell buyers what size of 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 Peterborough
- The catering contract at our depot changes hands next month. Who owns the kitchen?
It depends on the contract, and it is worth reading before you call us. In some contracts the caterer owns the equipment it installed and takes it or sells it at the end. In others the site owner bought the kitchen and the caterer only runs it. Some have a mix, with the heavy fixed items belonging to the site and the loose kit to the caterer. We ask both sides to agree a list before we catalogue anything, so nobody bids on a combination oven that was never for sale.
- Our inn is in a conservation area with no yard access. Will buyers still come?
Yes, if they know what to expect. We photograph the access, note the width of the door and the number of steps in the description, and set the collection slots so vans are not queuing in the street. Heavy lots are sold for dismantling by the buyer's crew. Peterborough, Huntingdon and Corby are close enough to attend a viewing day, and an awkward building is priced in when the catalogue describes it. What causes trouble is a surprise on collection day, so we put everything in the listing, including the parking.
More questions about catering equipment