Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Plymouth
Fish restaurants and seafood cafes around Sutton Harbour carry a kind of kitchen that most towns do not. Large fryers, an ice machine that runs all day, fish display counters, blast chillers and a lot of refrigeration, in a building on a quay where the delivery door opens onto a lane.
Plymouth's other catering kit is spread across the marine engineering and ship repair yards along the Tamar, which have mess rooms and canteens on site, and across the pubs, hotels, cafes and takeaways of the city and the coast. The estates at Estover and Langage add works canteens in modern units with a loading bay.
We sell it all by online timed auction. Bidding is open to buyers from every part of the UK, and Saltash, Torpoint, Liskeard and Tavistock over the Tamar Bridge, and Totnes and Ivybridge to the east, are well placed for the viewing day.
Getting a fryer off the quay
Old sites near the water have tight access, and a harbourside kitchen is where that bites. The door is often on a lane a van can reach but a lorry cannot, the floor may be a step above the street, and the fryers and range have to come out past the front of house. We look at every route before we catalogue. Where the heavy lots cannot come out whole, we sell them for dismantling by the buyer's crew, in a booked slot, with the gas already capped by a registered engineer.
Ice machines and fish counters need a note of their own. Both are plumbed and heavy, and both suit other seafood operators along the coast, so we photograph the drain and water connections and state the weight where we can find it.
Where it suits the lane, the small lots, the crockery, the small refrigeration, the coffee equipment and the furniture, go out first to buyers with vans, so the route is clear when the crews arrive for the heavy ones.
Seasonal trade on both sides of the Tamar
The coast sets the calendar here as much as the lease does. Cafes and restaurants in the seaside towns on both sides of the Tamar trade hard from Easter to October, and some decide in November not to reopen. The market for their equipment is the operators opening or refitting for the next season.
So there is a case for selling a kitchen that closes in the autumn in the new year instead. If the lease allows it, we catalogue in December and close the sale when the spring buyers are looking. If the premises must be empty before then, we collect the lots and sell from our own premises, which keeps the seller's date and the buyers' timing separate.
Mess rooms at the marine yards and the canteens at Estover and Langage run on a different cycle, tied to contracts rather than seasons, and those sell whenever the yard needs the space.
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 Plymouth
- Our cafe is in a listed building by the harbour. Does that affect the sale?
It affects what you can remove, not the auction itself. Extraction canopies, flues and anything fixed to the fabric of a listed building may need consent to take out, and the lease will say whether they are landlord's fixtures anyway. We leave those out of the catalogue unless you show us they are yours to sell and can be removed lawfully. Free standing equipment, refrigeration, furniture and the dishwasher line sell as normal. We check the lease and the fixtures with you at the site visit.
- We are in Cornwall, over the bridge. Do you cover us?
Yes. We sell anywhere in the UK, mainland or islands, and further afield when the sale justifies it, so Cornwall is covered. A restaurant in Saltash or Liskeard is within easy reach of the same trade as a Plymouth sale. The only thing we plan for is the road. Some coastal premises are reached by lanes that a rigid lorry cannot use, so we say so in the listing and tell buyers of heavy lots to bring a van and a crew.
More questions about catering equipment