Closing a pub for a fortnight in September, after the summer trade and before the Christmas bookings start, is the traditional window for getting the work done. It is also a fortnight of moving furniture out, fittings in, cellar equipment about and a skip’s worth of the previous owner’s decisions to the tip. Van hire for a pub or bar refurbishment is rarely one big move and usually twenty small ones, and having van hire in Warrington available for the whole period is what keeps it to schedule.
The Building Is Usually The Hardest Part
Pubs are old, and the older ones were built when everything arrived on a dray. That leaves a set of access problems that a modern unit simply does not have. Cellar hatches sized for barrels and nothing else, a single narrow doorway between the bar and the back, stone steps worn into a curve, low beams, and a car park that was a coaching yard and turns like one. Anything going in or out has to fit through the tightest point on its route, not the widest, and that point is often the door between the bar and the corridor rather than the front door everyone worries about. Measure the route rather than the item. It is a great deal cheaper to discover that a new back-bar unit will not turn the corner while it is still at the supplier’s than after it is standing in the car park in the rain.
Moving Cellar And Bar Equipment
Cellar kit is the definition of heavy, awkward and unforgiving. Cooling units, remote coolers, glasswashers, ice machines, under-counter fridges and stainless steel bar runs are all dense, frequently on castors that are useless on anything but a flat floor, and easily damaged if they are laid on their side. A Luton low loader van is the sensible choice for this work, because the lower deck height means a shorter, shallower ramp angle and considerably less lifting between the ground and the load area. Anything on castors can be wheeled rather than carried, which for a cooling unit is the difference between a two-person job and a four-person one. The same principles we set out for piano van hire and heavy awkward moves apply almost exactly.
Clearing The Old Fittings Out First
Every refurbishment starts by removing more than anyone expects. Fixed seating, old tables, a carpet, a quantity of brewery signage, forty mismatched chairs and whatever is in the cellar that nobody has looked at in a decade. Getting all of that out before the trades arrive is what makes the rest of the fortnight work, and it is worth doing in one concentrated push rather than in bits. Sort as you load rather than as you unload, keeping anything going to a reclamation buyer or a charity separate from anything going to the tip, because separating a mixed load at a recycling centre in the rain is a miserable end to a long day. Check the council’s rules on trade waste before you go, since a pub clearance is commercial waste and different rules apply.
Working Around A Closed Trading Period
The fortnight is fixed and everything has to fit inside it. That makes a single longer hire far more useful than a series of day hires, because the vehicle is available at seven in the morning when the flooring arrives early and at four in the afternoon when the tip run has to happen before it shuts. Short and long term hire are both available with no deposit required on most vehicles, and free secure parking on site means whoever is driving can leave their own car with us for the duration. Our depot on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre beside Asda is open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm and closed on Sunday, so build the Sunday into the plan rather than discovering it halfway through.
Who Is Driving And What They Need
On a refurbishment the driving usually gets shared between whoever is free, which is fine provided the hire reflects it. The person named on the hire has to collect the vehicle, bringing a photocard licence and a DVLA check code rather than a credit card. Every vehicle we run sits at or under three and a half tonnes gross vehicle weight and is driveable on a standard category B car licence, so bar staff and contractors alike are generally eligible without anything further. If you are unsure whether a particular vehicle needs anything extra, our guide on what licence you need to hire a Luton van covers the question directly.
Reopening Without A Van Full Of Leftovers
The last two days are always the ones that slip. Snagging items need collecting, the wrong tables need swapping, signage arrives late and somebody still has to take the packaging away. Keep the vehicle until the day after you reopen rather than returning it the evening before, because the alternative is a stack of flat-pack cardboard in a corridor on your first trading night. Rural pubs out towards Burtonwood van hire and Longford van hire are further from a trade counter than a town centre house, which makes that extra day more valuable still.
Bringing The Furniture Back In At The Right Moment
The order in which a refurbished pub gets refilled matters more than most people expect. Fixed seating and anything that needs securing to a wall goes in before the loose furniture, and both go in after the floor is finished and properly cured. Bringing tables and chairs back too early means moving them twice and marking a new floor in the process. Where the old furniture is being reused, it is worth taking it out to a lock-up or a barn rather than stacking it in a back room, because a fortnight of trades working around a pile of chairs guarantees at least one of them ends up damaged. Glassware, optics, till equipment and anything else that is small and breakable should travel separately and go back in last of all, ideally on the same day you reopen so it is not sitting about in a building full of dust.
Tell us how long you are closed for, what the cellar access is like and whether you are clearing as well as fitting, and we will sort out a vehicle and a period that suits the job. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 before the closure starts.
