Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Southampton
On a sailing day the hotels around the docks fill with passengers who arrived the night before, and their restaurants serve a breakfast that has to be finished by the time the coaches leave. That trade runs from spring to autumn and drops away in winter, and hotels that relied on it sometimes do not reopen. When that happens the kitchen comes to auction, and it is usually a kitchen built for volume and cleaned to a group standard.
The other steady stream is canteens. The distribution sheds at Nursling and Adanac Park feed shift workers around the clock, and when a depot changes operator the contract caterer takes its kitchen out. Marine yards on the Itchen have smaller mess rooms that sell with the workshop.
We sell catering equipment in Southampton by online timed auction, from the premises wherever the building allows it. Bidding is open to the whole of the UK, and Eastleigh, Totton, Fareham and Winchester are well placed to come and look before bidding closes.
Cruise hotels and a breakfast built for coaches
A hotel that turns over cruise passengers has a breakfast kitchen first and everything else second. Expect a hot holding run, combination ovens, a bank of toasters and egg stations, a bulk dishwasher, and cold rooms sized for a full house every morning. Restaurant and bar equipment is lighter, because most guests eat one dinner and leave.
These are service yard jobs, where the goods entrance, the yard and the door sizes decide what vehicle to bring. Collection is booked in slots and buyers are shown the way. Where the hotel is still trading at a reduced level, we sell the surplus and leave the working kitchen alone.
The market is other hotels and pubs, and Winchester, Romsey, Lyndhurst and the coast towards Portsmouth are close enough to attend a viewing day. Small lots can travel by courier. Where the seller's dates allow, the close can be timed for the months when seasonal operators are refitting.
Shed canteens at Nursling and mess rooms on the Itchen
A distribution shed canteen is a plain kitchen with good access. Servery counter, a range, a couple of fryers, upright fridges, a dishwasher, vending and a hundred plastic chairs, usually on a ground floor. Where there is a loading bay and a forklift the lots go out on pallets quickly, which we check on the visit. When a depot at Nursling or Adanac Park changes operator, an incoming caterer can bid for the kitchen in place like anyone else.
Boatyards and marine engineers along the Itchen and Southampton Water are smaller. A mess room with a fridge, a microwave, a water boiler and a coffee machine sells as a handful of lots inside the yard sale, and the buyers are usually the trade counters and workshops next door.
Sellers often write canteen kit off too quickly. It is heavy duty, it is usually serviced under contract, and it is worth a view before you decide to scrap it.
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 Southampton
- Our hotel closes at the end of the cruise season. When should the auction run?
Soon after the last sailing, if the lease allows it. Seasonal hotels and pubs on the coast are quiet in the autumn and use that time to refit, so a sale that closes in October or November lands before the season rather than after it. The timetable depends on the number of lots, the access, the lease and the date the hotel stops trading, so we would propose one rather than promise it. Tell us that date and we will work the catalogue and the viewing day back from it.
- Can the incoming contract caterer buy the kitchen before the auction?
Yes, by private treaty, and it is often the sensible route for a canteen that fits the room it is in. We value the equipment, agree a price with both sides and handle the paperwork and payment, so the kitchen never leaves the building. If the two of you cannot agree, it goes into the auction and the incoming caterer bids like everyone else. Either way the seller is paid once the sale is reconciled from cleared funds, less the agreed commission and any agreed costs.
More questions about catering equipment