How to hire
Match the hirer to the job first. Castle firms own back-garden birthdays, school fetes and fun days; stylists own weddings and venue dressing; catering, furniture, tent and tech hirers own the kit behind bigger functions. Before you enquire, write down the date, the venue, the headcount and the ages attending, because every serious hirer prices and plans from those four facts.
A typical booking runs the same course from first contact to sign-off. You send the date, the venue, the headcount and the ages attending, and the hirer answers with availability and a price for the list. Then comes the paperwork check on tags, cover and whatever the venue demands, before any money moves. A deposit secures the date with the balance due on delivery or just before, and the hirer confirms the delivery window a day or two ahead. The job ends at collection, when you check the kit against the agreement and keep the receipt with your photos.
For any castle or slide, ask for the numbered PIPA tag and check it yourself on the PIPA website, which carries a tag-check search [1]. Larger rides may instead carry an ADIPS declaration of compliance. The HSE safety advice for hirers says to check that safety tests have been carried out and to get the operating instructions with the hire, and it sets out anchoring, supervision and wind rules you should expect the hirer to follow [2]. If the firm cannot name the tag or the paperwork behind its castles, shortlist elsewhere.
Check the people as well as the kit. RPII registered inspectors and operators carry an ID card with a licence number you can check on the RPII website [3]. For discos and entertainers working with children, ask what checks the staff who attend actually hold. Treat logos with care: TIPE is a subscription information service for hire firms, not a trade association [4], and the BIHA describes itself as an alliance of hirers rather than an accreditation body, advising you to do your own due diligence [5]. For stretch tents and marquees, search the MUTA member list for the business name [6].
Sort the practicalities before you pay anything. Measure the space, the gate it all comes through and the distance to a mains socket, since blowers need power and castles need room for stakes or ballast where pegs cannot go. Hot tubs need water, drainage and a level base, plus time to heat. If you are booking a hall, ask the venue first what paperwork it wants, because many ask for the hirer's insurance and test certificates up front.
Telford adds its own layer once the party leaves your garden. If you want a castle or stalls on a park or playing field, the landowner's permission comes first: the council hires out its parks and open spaces for events under written terms of hire, and its guidance says to get those terms and match your paperwork to them [10]. Community events have their own application route, with small gatherings under five hundred going through a lighter process than larger ones [11]. Around the Gorge, parts of Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and Jackfield sit in the Severn Gorge conservation area, which is also a World Heritage Site, while Wellington and Newport hold conservation areas of their own [12]. None of that stops a party, but vans, generators and anything staked into open ground deserve a mention when you book.
Get the quote itemised in writing: each item, the hire date, the delivery and collection windows, any delivery or minimum-order fee, damage and cleaning charges, the cancellation and wet-weather terms, and whether VAT sits on top or inside the total, since the standard rate is twenty per cent [7]. Compare two or three quotes on the same list so you compare like with like. If something goes wrong after the event, Citizens Advice sets out your consumer options [9].
On the day, walk the setup before the children arrive: every anchor point used, mats at entries and slide exits, the blower guarded and out of reach, and the tag matching the one you checked. Keep the hire agreement showing the items, the money paid and the damage terms, with photos of the setup as it arrived. If the hirer is a limited company, its record is searchable at Companies House [8].
Sign-off happens at the van, not over the phone the next day. Walk the kit with the driver at collection, point out any mark or break while it is still on your ground, and agree there and then what comes off the damage deposit or what extra cleaning costs. Pay the balance by card or transfer where you can, so the payment sits beside the agreement and the receipt, and keep all three with your photos until the deposit is back in your account.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough Telford ranges run like this: a standard back-garden castle advertises day hire around the hundred-pound mark, with an adults themed castle listed at one hundred and fifteen pounds; bigger slides climb higher, with a mega slide listed at one hundred and fifty-five pounds. Hot tubs start near one hundred and fifty pounds, with weekend castle-and-tub and multi-day packages in the low hundreds. Most castle hirers set a minimum order, around seventy pounds across central Telford postcodes.
Party extras price by the package: entertainers such as face painting run about one hundred and thirty pounds for two hours, with a hosted disco party in the mid-hundreds. Wedding styling packages run from five hundred to nine hundred and fifty pounds for full setups. Event tech hires by the week, from thirty pounds for tablets and stands to around one hundred and fifty pounds for desktop kits.
Stretch tents and marquees price like building work in miniature, so expect a tailored quote after a site visit rather than a list price. Guest count sets the footprint, the surface decides stakes or ballast, and install time, furniture and lighting sit on top. Furniture in bulk prices by the piece and the lorry load, with delivery, setup and damage terms moving the total more than the chair rate.
Catering kit hires off a catalogue rather than a price list. The oven range, refrigeration and crockery count set the base, with delivery, setup and cleaning terms on top, and trade hirers often do new and used sales alongside. Hot tub weekends price as packages: the tub and the hire length set the base, with water treatment, heating time and the delivery and collection windows agreed up front.
Delivery moves the total most. Some hirers deliver free inside their home postcodes and charge by distance beyond, around ten pounds across Telford postcodes or fifteen pounds and more further out, while multi-hire and multi-day discounts cut the per-item cost. Off-season discount codes and midweek deals are common outside summer. Ask whether VAT is included, since the standard rate is twenty per cent and many hire prices are quoted without it [7].
Get the scope in writing before you pay a deposit: the exact items and sizes, the delivery and collection windows, the VAT position, and what damage, extra cleaning or cancellation costs. Agree the wet-weather plan for outdoor kit and keep every quote, receipt and hire agreement together.
Red flags
Takes your date with no written booking confirmation showing the items, the fees and the delivery times.
Cannot name the numbered PIPA tag or ADIPS paperwork behind the castle your children will bounce on [1] [2].
Quotes a marquee or stretch tent with no site visit, measurements or plan for anchoring it.
Adds delivery, cleaning or damage charges you only hear about on collection day.
Asks for the full balance in cash long before the event, with no cancellation terms in writing.
Will not say who supervises the equipment or what happens in high wind.
Has no written answer when your hall asks for its insurance and safety paperwork.
Shows no business address, working phone number or company details anywhere on its site or paperwork.
Presses for a deposit before putting the items, the fees and the delivery times in writing.