FOR PUBS such as the Crown in Bridgnorth, near Birmingham, hiring a marquee represents a valuable way to add capacity to the venue, create an atmosphere for a special occasion and squeeze out extra profits.
The Marston's Inns and Taverns pub hired one of the temporary structures last June from Mahood Marquees, one of the largest of many marquee firms operating in the UK.
Placed in its car park throughout much of the football World Cup tournaments, the marquee was used to stage screenings of England matches. With room enough for around 200 people, the flag-waving football fans packed in and it made for a great atmosphere.
The Crown is typical of pubs that have made a success out of using marquees. If you've got the space outdoors - whether you're a rural pub that owns fields or just have a decent beer garden - they are suitable for the whole gamut of events, from private-hire birthday parties or weddings, to beer festivals. Or you can just use them to give a pub extra capacity during particularly busy periods.
So how do you go about holding a function in what is essentially a giant tent?
Kieran Mahood, Mahood Marquees' operations manager, explains that the company offers structures from three metres to 25m in width. The system is modular, so units can be added continuously, extending the marquee to fit your beer garden or car park.
Attractive additions
Modern marquees have lightweight but durable aluminium frames that can be erected and taken down quickly, making them perfect temporary fixtures that can make very attractive additions to a pub.
The frames are 'clear-span', meaning there's no internal structure so the given size is all usable space. Some of the old-style marquees had poles down the centre and some cheaper, more basic models still have some sort of internal support.
The Crown had a 12m by 20m marquee with specialised 'black out' insulating lining.
AV equipment and a bar were hired from separate firms - something which many pubs choose to do, according to Kieran.
Mahood Marquees charged the Crown £4,500 plus VAT for the marquee, which was erected on June 9 and taken down on July 3. The firm typically charges an initial rate for the first weekend's hire, then it is priced at a percentage rate according to however long you choose to keep it.
This cost varies depending on the time of year - although marquees are suitable for all year due to sophisticated heating and air conditioning systems, they are in most demand in summer, and so will cost more.
A marquee of the size hired by the Crown takes around half a day to put up and half a day to be taken down and removed by a team of skilled labourers.
Measure up
Kieran explains the typical process for a one-off hire. "We send them some literature, visit the site to see where the marquee is going to go, talk through what they're looking for and measure up. Then we send them a quote and a lay-out plan and schedule in a date to put it up."
There is no need to worry about wear and tear to your lawn, he adds. There is minimal wear to grass because the weight is distributed evenly over a broad area, and green areas will soon grow back.
If the marquee is fixed to hard ground - concrete, as it would be in a car park - the company will fill in the holes afterwards with tarmac.
Choosing a marquee
Marquee companies have a wide variety of decoration and equipment available to tailor marquees to individual functions - from different types of chairs and tables to dance floors and curtains. At the other end of the scale, it can be as basic as walls and a roof.
Kieran Mahood of Mahood Marquees says: "If it's quite an upmarket pub, you can have all the bells and whistles - you can have it floored, carpeted and lined, with dance floors, star cloth and staging installed. If it's more downmarket, you can get away with less."
Marquees of all sizes can be hired for different events such as sporting occasions and weddings and can be extended to fit the occasion and limitations of your outdoor area.
Does your tent require a TEN?
If you want to install a bar in a marquee you may need to apply for a temporary events notice (TEN) under the terms of the Licensing Act. This situation will vary from pub to pub - if your premises licence includes the outdoors as a licensed area you won't need a TEN.
The British Beer & Pub Association advises that a TEN can take a few days to process and says: "As always, check your licence and keep in contact with the local licensing authority."
Can you use marquees as smoking areas?
There has been much talk in the run-up to the smoking ban of the possibility of using marquees as outdoor smoking areas - whether temporary or otherwise.
But the law, as applied to marquees, is exactly the same as it is to any other structure.
If it is 'substantially enclosed', smoking is banned. Substantially enclosed means having a ceiling or roof and more than 50 per cent enclosed by walls. The retractable or roll-up sides found on many marquees count as walls, whether they are up or down.
If in doubt, consult your local authority or, in England, Smokefree England on 0800 169 1697or visit www.smokefreeengland.co.uk
The smoking ban will apply in marquees that are 'substantially enclosed'
Case study: the Whitmore Arms, Essex
The Whitmore Arms in Orsett, Essex, has a good-sized beer garden and has held many events in marquees over the years.
Margaret Orman, licensee of the Greene King community pub, says she tried several companies before settling on Castle Marquees based in nearby Wickford. She has one booked for hire for a 50th birthday party to be held in June and says they have been fantastically received.
"We have never had any bad feedback from customers. The last one we had was for a family fun day in the village. All the local pubs had some form of live music in the evening and we had a band outside on an open lorry we had hired. When it started raining, all the customers did was pull the tables and chairs back inside the marquee and carried on dancing the night away.
"We always have them for a reason - 95 per cent of the time for private functions, so obviously sales will always go up. Whenever we hire one, people stay and it really enhances our turnover."
The Whitmore Arms usually opts for a 30ft x 30ft marquee (about 9m x 9m) which can cater for between 80 to 100 people, and the pub offers table service for customers who don't fancy the short trip to the bar inside the pub.
Margaret says that Castle Marquees charges £350 for the basic structure but the overall fee generally reaches £1,000 after extras such as chairs and dance floors have been added. She decorates the garden herself with signs and lighting. "Marquees create a lovely atmosphere," she adds. "But you need to do it creatively."
And the over-riding advice from a licensee experienced in marquee hire? "Make sure you use a reputable company, that they know what they are doing, are covered by insurance, and choose one that will let you check out other functions it has done," she says.