Britannia AuctionsCatering and hospitality equipment auctions in Wolverhampton
The Black Country runs on pubs, and Wolverhampton is no exception. Tenanted pubs with a kitchen out the back, working men's clubs with a function room, curry houses on the main roads out of the city, cafes on every parade of shops. Between them they turn over a steady supply of ranges, fryers, fridges and furniture, and when the tenant hands back the keys, that equipment needs a buyer.
The other regular source is the works canteen. The engineering, pressings and fabrication firms across Bilston, Wednesfield and Willenhall, and the larger plants at i54, feed their shifts on site, and a plant closure or a caterer's contract ending puts a heavy duty kitchen up for sale.
We sell both by online timed auction. The pubs and cafes need a plan for narrow streets and small yards. The works sites are usually simpler, and we check the loading and the access on the visit. Use the form to tell us which you have and when it needs to go.
Getting a range out through a pub side door
Most of the pubs and cafes we sell in this part of the world were built long before anyone thought about a delivery lorry. The kitchen is at the back, reached through the bar or down a side passage, and the yard is shared with the flat upstairs. Whether a six burner range gets through depends on the door, the passage and the handling equipment the route needs. A walk in cold room is sold as panels, an extraction canopy is cut down in sections, and a commercial dishwasher is heavier than it looks.
We photograph the route out and put the measurements in the listing, and we book collection in short slots so the passage is not blocked by two vans at once. That gives buyers what they need to plan the removal before they bid.
Where the access defeats trade collection, the kitchen can be brought to our own premises and sold from there.
Canteens at the pressings shops and i54
A canteen at a pressings shop in Bilston and a staff restaurant at one of the plants on i54 are the same kind of sale at different scales. The pressings shop has a small kitchen with a range, a fryer, a hot cupboard and a couple of fridges, probably older and well used. The i54 plant has a full staff restaurant with combination ovens, a serve over counter run and a dishwasher line, and it may only be a few years old.
Both usually sell as part of a wider site sale alongside the presses or the machine tools, with the loading bay, the forklift and the site rules confirmed on the visit. We catalogue the catering equipment as its own section so the caterers and pub operators who bid on it do not have to search through the plant.
Walsall, Dudley, West Bromwich, Cannock and Telford along the M54 are close enough to attend a viewing day, and contract caterers can bid online from anywhere in the UK.
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 Wolverhampton
- Our club is closing and the members own the equipment. Who signs the sale agreement?
Whoever the club's rules say can act for it, usually the committee or the trustees. We will need a copy of the rules or a minute of the meeting that agreed the closure and the sale, so we know the people instructing us have the authority to do so. After that the sale runs like any other. Function room furniture, bar equipment and the kitchen suit other clubs and pub operators. The proceeds are paid to the club's account once the sale is reconciled from cleared funds, less the agreed commission and costs, for the committee to distribute.
- The kitchen is on the first floor with only a domestic staircase. Is that a problem?
It is a job, not a stopper. What comes down a domestic staircase depends on the weight and dimensions of each item and on the turn in the stair, so we measure the route on the visit and put it in the listing, and buyers bring the handling equipment or the specialist help it needs. The heavy items, a big range or a commercial dishwasher, may need a door frame taken off or a window used. If the route will not work, the equipment can come to our own premises and be sold there.
More questions about catering equipment