Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Stoke-on-Trent
Six towns means six high streets, and each one has its share of cafes, oatcake shops, takeaways and pubs that open and close as the trade shifts. That is the small end of the Stoke-on-Trent catering market, and it produces a steady run of short sales: an espresso machine, a griddle, a couple of display fridges and the tables from a cafe that has closed.
The bigger end is on the estates. The pottery factories and the distribution sheds along the A500 and the A50 run staff canteens, and the hotels and pub restaurants around Trentham Lakes and Festival Park serve visitors and business travellers. When those sites refit or close, the kitchens are large and the access is checked before anything is listed.
We sell catering and hospitality equipment by online timed auction across the city and the surrounding towns, catalogued on site where we can. Tell us the building and the date.
Six high streets, one auction
A cafe on a high street in Tunstall does not have enough equipment to justify an auction on its own, and it does not need to. We combine the small closures across the six towns and the surrounding area into one mixed catering sale, catalogued unit by unit, so buyers make one trip to view and one trip to collect. A cafe owner in Leek who wants an espresso machine and a serve over counter can bid on lots from four different shops in the same sale.
Each unit keeps its own collection address and time, and we note the access. Many of these high street units have a back door onto a service road, and we check the door sizes, the parking and the route out before the catalogue says what to bring.
The larger items from the group, a decent range or a walk in cold room, are photographed and described in full, because they are the lots somebody can bid on without visiting.
Canteens in the potbanks and the distribution sheds
A pottery factory that has run for decades has a canteen to match: a big range, a hot cupboard run, a bulk dishwasher, a walk in fridge and a hall full of tables and chairs. When the factory closes, the canteen is one section of a larger site sale that also covers the kilns and the moulding plant, and we catalogue it separately so the catering trade can find it.
The distribution sheds along the A500 and the A50 are newer and their canteens are smaller, but the equipment is often only a few years old. What each kind of site will take, the access road, the hard standing and the turning space for a tail lift lorry, is checked before the catalogue goes out.
Bidding is online and open nationally, and Newcastle-under-Lyme, Crewe, Stafford and Uttoxeter are close enough to walk the lots on the viewing day. Where a site is being cleared on an insolvency timetable, a run of about three weeks is usually possible, depending on the lots and the access.
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 Stoke-on-Trent
- Our pub restaurant near Trentham is refitting over the winter. When should you sell the old kitchen?
As soon as the builders give you a start date. We would propose an auction that closes a few days before it, with collection in the days before they arrive, and the run turns on the lot count and the access. Equipment that can be run without risk stays connected for the viewing day so it can be demonstrated, and everything else is isolated. Have the gas capped by a registered engineer before collection, and empty the cold room so it can be dismantled.
- We have a small cafe with about twenty lots. Will anyone bother to bid?
Yes, if it is listed well. A single cafe sale is short, so we usually put it into a mixed catering auction with other units from around the city, which gives the catalogue more to show. A good espresso machine and grinder is compact enough to travel by courier, so bidding on it is not limited to the area. Display fridges and furniture suit cafe owners and trade buyers nearer to hand. Tell us what you have and we will give you a straight view on what it is likely to make.
More questions about catering equipment