How to hire
Match the bar to the shape of your event first. A staffed guest-pays or free bar suits a wedding or big birthday where guests buy their own drinks or drink against your tab, an open per-head bar suits a shorter reception where you want one fixed bill, and dry hire suits a marquee or garden party where you already hold the drinks and only need the structure, chillers and glassware. Telford hosts all three kinds, from hotel weddings and village-hall parties to garden gatherings across Wellington, Dawley, Madeley and Lawley, so decide which model fits before you shortlist names.
When you first enquire, send the date, the venue with its postcode, guest numbers, serving hours and the drinks range you want. Say whether the venue already holds a licence for alcohol sales, whether food is wanted too, and where the bar can stand, with notes on access, parking, power and water. A firm that quotes from that brief without follow-up questions is guessing, so expect a call back that pins down the details.
Settle the licence question before you agree anything. If the venue already holds a premises licence that covers the bar area, sales can run under it where every sale is authorised by a personal licence holder [3]. If it does not, someone must serve a temporary event notice on Telford and Wrekin Council at least ten clear working days before the event, excluding the day the council receives it and the day itself, with a statutory fee payable and copies for the police and environmental health unless you apply online [1] [2]. Late notices run to five clear working days with tighter yearly limits, and events of five hundred or more cannot use this route at all [2]. Ask your bar who holds the personal licence and who serves the notice, and get the answer in writing.
Check the registers that matter for this trade. There is no single must-hold register for mobile bars, so ask what the firm does hold: a personal licence for whoever authorises alcohol sales [3], and a food hygiene rating on the Food Standards Agency register wherever food is served alongside drinks, searchable by business name or postcode [4]. Ask for public liability insurance documents too, since none of the firms in this round publishes its cover, and treat a vague answer as a gap rather than a detail.
Walk the access before you book, especially around Ironbridge and the Severn Gorge. The borough holds eight conservation areas, including the Severn Gorge and Wellington, where the council weighs historic character in its decisions [7], and Gorge lanes, terraces and riverside venues can defeat a van and trailer that a Donnington trading estate would swallow. Tell the bar about gates, gradients, tight turns, parking for guests and suppliers, and where power and water come from, and agree a wet-weather plan for any outdoor serving.
Get the quote itemised in writing on one scope: the hire fee or deposit, any minimum guest spend and what happens if it is not met, the per-head rate where one applies, exactly what sits inside in staff, glassware, ice, setup and pack-down, plus travel, the VAT position, payment stages and cancellation terms [5] [6]. Compare two or three quotes line by line rather than by headline price, since one firm's free bar is another firm's minimum spend with a deposit attached. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question, and ask what sits inside or outside.
Agree the running of the day itself. Confirm how many staff pour against your guest numbers, when they arrive to set up and when they strike the bar down, who runs the card payments, and how age checks are handled at a family event. For an outdoor pitch, agree what happens in heavy rain or high wind, and where the bar moves to if the lawn floods. Put names, times and phone numbers for the day on the booking confirmation, not just in messages.
Close the paperwork loop after the event. Keep the booking confirmation, the itemised bill, the drinks tab if one ran, and receipts for the deposit and any damage deductions, and check the deposit comes back within the agreed time. The temporary notice must be kept on the premises during the event with a copy displayed where it can be seen [2]. If anything went wrong, write it down while it is fresh with dates and photos, then use the corrections route on this page to tell us what needs checking.
Pricing
As of summer 2026, the commonest Telford arrangement is the guest-pays bar with a safety net for the firm. A national guide puts a cash bar at a free bar or a low deposit of £50–£200 with a minimum guest spend attached [5], while minimum-spend packages for weddings carry a booking fee of £300–£500 against a £1,500–£3,500 bar take [8]. The deposit is often refundable once the bar passes its target, so the written question is always what happens if the room drinks less than expected. The free-bar-above-a-threshold deal offered in this very round shows how the model lands locally: cross the guest count and the hire fee falls away.
An open bar, where you pay and guests drink free, is usually priced per head for a set number of hours. A national guide puts prepaid packages of two or three drinks at £12–£25 a guest and a three to four-hour open bar at £20–£70 a guest [5], while a 2026 guide puts beer and wine packages at £15–£20 a head, beer, wine and spirits at £20–£28, and full cocktail service at £25–£35 [6]. Treat capital-city figures with care in Telford: the same guide puts the Midlands at the national average rather than the London premium [6].
Dry hire, where the firm brings the bar and you bring the drinks, starts from the lowest headline figure. A 2026 national guide puts the bare unit at £200–£500 an event, a staffed beer and wine bar at £300–£800, and a staffed cocktail bar at £500–£1,500 for a four to six-hour service [6]. Dry hire suits a marquee wedding where the drinks are already bought, but compare the hire fee against the drinks bill honestly, since corkage, ice, glassware and transport can erase the saving.
Guest numbers, serving hours, menu complexity and bar style move the price most, with travel beyond the firm's usual radius, premium spirits, fresh garnishes and extras such as flair bartending or branded menus adding on top [5]. Ask whether VAT sits inside or on top of every figure, and get the scope in writing before you pay anything: fee, drinks, staff, hours, travel, what shifts the price, and what happens to the deposit if you cancel [5] [6].
Red flags
Cannot say whose licence covers alcohol sales at your venue, or who serves the temporary notice where one is needed [1] [2].
Names no personal licence holder to authorise sales run under a licensed premises [3].
Quotes a firm price with no written breakdown of fee, drinks, staff, hours and travel.
Asks for full payment upfront before confirming the date, bar style and drinks range in writing.
Shows no public liability insurance document when asked.
Serves food alongside drinks with no hygiene rating you can look up on the public register [4].
Is vague about setup and pack-down times, staffing numbers or the wet-weather plan.
Leaves the minimum spend shortfall unwritten, with no word on who pays the difference.
Gives no business address or working phone number you can reach on the day.