Catering equipment hire in Liverpool.

Do you deliver catering equipment across Liverpool?

Yes. Our depot is in Liverpool itself, at Unit 16, Wheathill Industrial Estate, Holt Lane, Netherley, L27 0YA, and every Liverpool postcode in the table below is £100 ex VAT for delivery and collection. That covers the city centre, the waterfront, Anfield and Walton, Aintree, Woolton, Allerton and Huyton.

We are based in Netherley, Liverpool, so the distances on this page are short ones. The depot is 2 miles from Huyton and Halewood, 5 miles from Sefton Park and 7 from the city centre. That keeps every district in the table on our minimum delivery charge, and it means a quote for a Liverpool address is simple to work out: the equipment, £100 for the two van visits, and any time on site.

We have been hiring out equipment since 2017. The business grew out of Four Seasons Catering's own events, and our owner, Marco, has spent more than 40 years in hospitality, so the range is built around what a working caterer actually reaches for: Athena white hotel porcelain, Kings and Harley cutlery, glassware by the crate, linen, trestles, hot cupboards, ovens, chafing dishes, water boilers, bar fridges and outdoor cooking kit. Around 223 product lines in all, across nine collections, from crockery to catering and beverage equipment.

On the day, our driver delivers, unloads and collects. We do not lay tables or dress the room, so plan for someone on your side to take the kit from the van to where it is needed.

Why is delivery the same £100 from Aintree to Woolton?

Because no part of the city is far enough from Netherley to get past our minimum charge. Delivery and collection are two visits. Each visit is charged on the road miles there and back, at £1.50 a mile in the Citroën Dispatch small van or £2.00 a mile in the Citroën Relay Luton with the tail-lift, and each visit has a £50 minimum.

Aintree (L9) is the furthest Liverpool district on our list at about 9 miles. That is 18 road miles for the round trip, so £27 in the small van or £36 in the Luton. Both are under £50, so both are charged at £50 a visit, £100 in total. The Luton would only start costing more beyond roughly 12 miles each way, and the small van beyond about 16. The table uses approximate road miles; your written quote is worked out on the actual route.

The van choice still matters for planning, even if it does not change the Liverpool price. Ovens, fridges, hot cupboards, bars, trestles, BBQs and hog roasts go in the Luton because they need the tail-lift, and one of those items puts the whole order in it. A box of plates and a few crates of glasses go in the small van.

What does change the price inside the city is time. Loading, unloading and waiting are charged at £12.50 for each started half hour, and parking, tolls and permits are passed on at cost. That is why the next section is about access. If you would rather avoid the delivery charge altogether, you can collect from the depot by appointment at no delivery cost, which is a short drive for most of south and east Liverpool. The delivery page has the full rates.

What is it like getting hire kit into a city-centre venue?

It is usually fine, but it takes longer than a house in Childwall, and the time is what you pay for. In L1 and L3 the van often cannot stop at the door. There may be a loading bay round the back, a goods lift, a service corridor, a security desk to sign in at, or a pay-and-display bay a short walk away. Every one of those adds minutes, and minutes on site are charged at £12.50 per started half hour.

A few things make a real difference:

• Ask the venue where deliveries go. Most city-centre function rooms, offices and bars have a set route for goods. Get the address of the loading entrance, not just the front door, and send it to us with the postcode.
• Book a slot. If the venue only lets vans in at certain times, tell us when you book so we can plan the run around it.
• Send photos for heavy kit. For ovens, fridges, hot cupboards and bars we ask for photos of the access: door widths, steps, the lift and where the van will stop. A hot cupboard on a tail-lift is easy. The same hot cupboard up a flight of stairs is a different job, and we would rather know before the van arrives.
• Have someone there. The driver hands over, counts the crates in and goes. If nobody is there to sign for the kit, the waiting clock runs.

Outside the centre the access problems are different but just as real. Plenty of Liverpool homes in Wavertree, Aigburth and Toxteth are terraces with a step straight onto the pavement and a narrow hall, which is no trouble for crockery crates but worth a photo if you are hiring a three-door counter fridge. Parking on busy residential streets is the other one. If you can keep a space clear outside on the day, do.

What does an 80-guest dinner in the city centre cost to equip?

A plated three-course dinner for 80 in an L3 venue comes to £1,028.44 of equipment, ex VAT, for a 2-day hire, with cleaning already included. Here is the list:

• 9 × 10 wide rim plates 255mm (10") for mains at £6.08 = £54.72
• 9 × 10 wide rim plates 205mm (8") for starters at £5.40 = £48.60
• 9 × 10 oatmeal bowls 150mm for dessert at £5.40 = £48.60
• 9 × 10 each of Kings table knives, table forks, starter knives, starter forks and dessert spoons at £4.32 = £194.40
• 4 crates of Saxone 175ml wine glasses (24 a crate) at £10.80 = £43.20
• 3 boxes of Saxone champagne flutes (35 a box) at £15.19 = £45.57
• 4 crates of 12oz hi-ball tumblers for water at £9.72 = £38.88
• 1 × hot cupboard, electric 13 amp = £203.00
• 1 × jack stack plate trolley (104 plates) = £87.75
• 90 × white napkins 20" at £1.22 = £109.80
• 8 × round tablecloths 118" for 5ft tables at £19.24 = £153.92

Why these numbers? Crockery and cutlery come in tens, so 80 guests means nine tens of everything: the extra ten covers a dropped fork, a plate that goes back to the kitchen and the caterer's own tasting. Eight tables of ten take eight cloths. 96 wine glasses for 80 people is tight if the wine flows all night, so if you expect people to put a glass down and pick up a fresh one, add a fifth crate. 105 flutes cover a welcome drink for everyone with spares. The jack stack is what makes plated service work in a venue without a big pass: the kitchen plates up mains onto the trolley, it holds up to 104 plates, and the hot cupboard keeps the next course warm.

On top of the equipment, delivery and collection to L3 is £100.00. The hot cupboard and jack stack put the load in the Luton, but in Liverpool that is still £100. Add loading time at £12.50 per started half hour and any parking at cost, and you are at about £1,128 ex VAT. The refundable deposit is half the equipment hire, which would be £514.22, but it is normally capped at £500, so £500. The event planner builds a list like this for your own numbers, and the sizing guide shows the per-guest allowances.

Can you supply a party in one of Liverpool's park venues?

Yes, and they are some of the places where hired kit matters most. Liverpool City Council lists Croxteth Hall in Croxteth Country Park, the Isla Gladstone Conservatory in Stanley Park, the Palm House in Sefton Park, the Mansion House in Calderstones Park and St George's Hall as its park and heritage venues for weddings and events. They sit between about 4 and 8 miles from the depot, with Calderstones the nearest and Stanley Park the furthest.

Before you build a hire list for a venue like these, ask three questions:

• Is there a working kitchen, or just a servery? If your caterer is cooking off site and bringing food in, you mainly need hot holding: a hot cupboard, chafing dishes, gastronorm trays and insulated carriers. If they are cooking on site with no kitchen, you are into ovens and a gas hob, and that means a ventilation and gas conversation with the venue first.
• How many sockets, and on how many circuits? Each 13 amp socket on a normal circuit gives you roughly 3 kW. A hot cupboard, a water boiler and a coffee machine on one double socket is likely to trip it. Spread them, or ask the venue if a gas boiler makes more sense.
• Where can dirty crates go? Returns need packing back into crates at the end of the night, so there has to be a corner to stack them.

If you are planning an event in a park itself rather than in the hall, the council asks for an online enquiry first and aims to reply within 10 working days. You will need public liability insurance and any licences confirmed, so start that process before you book equipment.

What do you need to hire for a Liverpool street party?

Trestle tables, a way of boiling water without mains power, and cups. Here is a simple list for around 100 people:

• 6 × trestle tables 6ft x 30" at £8.64 = £51.84
• 1 × gas water boiler, 20 litres LPG = £40.50
• 1 × Calor gas bottle 19kg = £57.50
• 100 × stacking cups 200ml at £0.54 = £54.00
• 100 × saucers 140mm at £0.54 = £54.00

That is £257.84 of equipment ex VAT, plus £100 delivery and collection (the trestles go in the Luton). We use gas here for a plain reason: there are no sockets in the middle of a road, and running an extension lead out of a front window to an electric urn is how people trip out the house. The LPG boiler comes with its regulator, and the gas is charged separately. Twenty litres is around 100 cups of tea from one fill.

The council side needs more time than the kit. Liverpool City Council's street party rules say the road must be residential and the party must last no more than 3 hours, except for Royal or national events. You need £1m public liability insurance, and the council aims to respond within 10 working days. There is also a road closure notice charge of £3,025 ex VAT, and the organiser pays for barriers. That charge is waived for Royal and national events, so a Royal or national occasion is the cheapest time to hold one. Check the council's street party page before you set a date, then book the trestles.

When should you book for Grand National week?

As soon as you know the numbers. The Grand National meeting at Aintree runs over three days, Thursday to Saturday, in April, with the National itself on the Saturday. The next one is on 10 April 2027. Race-day parties at home, at work and in clubs across the city all want glasses, plates and a bar fridge for the same few days.

Two of our rules help here. Kit delivered on a Thursday or Friday and collected on the Monday or Tuesday is normally charged as one hire, which suits a Saturday party with a Sunday to recover, and we confirm it on the quote. And the earliest the website will take a booking is three days out, so leaving it to race week itself does not leave much room.

If your party is in L9, near the course, expect the roads to be busy on race days. Tell us when you book so the delivery time can be planned around race traffic. Aintree also races in May, October, November and December, and there is a Boxing Day fixture, which falls in our Christmas peak pricing.

For a race-day bar, the glass maths is simple: allow two or three glasses per guest for a long afternoon, by type. Pints and half pints come 24 to a crate, as do wine glasses and hi-balls. Champagne flutes come 35 to a box, and gin balloons 12. Our bar and refrigeration range has the bottle fridges and coolers, and the glassware page lists every glass and crate size.

Do you need a licence or food registration for a Liverpool event?

If you are selling alcohol, or selling hot food after 11pm, somewhere that is not already licensed, you need a Temporary Event Notice. For a private party where nothing is sold, you usually do not. The rules on a TEN come from GOV.UK and Liverpool City Council takes the application:

• fewer than 500 people at all times, staff included
• no more than 168 hours
• up to 5 a year, or 50 if you hold a personal licence
• apply at least 10 clear working days ahead (a late TEN needs 5 working days)
• the fee is £21

If you are trading food at a stall, a market or a pop-up, you also need to register as a food business at least 28 days before you start. Registration is free and the council cannot refuse it. A mobile unit registers with the council where it is kept overnight.

Once you are serving food, you will be asked about hand washing. We hire a Burco portable refillable hand-wash sink at £108.75 for sites with no plumbing, and a hose-fed stainless hand-wash sink on a stand with an electric instant hot tap at £58.00 where you have a tap and a socket. Our hire terms cover what you are responsible for once the kit is on site.

How do booking, deposits and returns work?

Build a list on the site or ring us, and we send a written quote within one working day. Nothing is charged until you accept it. Then:

• a 25% booking payment secures the date, and the balance is due 7 days before handover
• a refundable security deposit of half the equipment hire, ex VAT (minimum £100, normally no more than £500), comes back within 7 working days of the kit returning
• prices are for a 2-day hire, ex VAT, with standard cleaning included, and peak dates such as summer weekends, bank holidays and Christmas are priced higher on the quote

You do not wash anything. Scrape the plates, empty the glasses, pack everything back into its crates, and sort the glasses by type into the right racks. Kit that comes back mixed or loose can be charged for sorting at £18 an hour plus VAT. Keep linen dry and do not wash it.

If you are outside the city, we cover the Wirral through the tunnels, and Widnes and Warrington are both close to the depot. You can reach us on 0151 230 1600 (option 2), WhatsApp 07506 232976 or [email protected], or through the contact page.