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Wedding season in the UK typically takes place from late May through till September. While you can never really predict British weather, brides and grooms are more likely to get the best conditions for their picturesque wedding in the summer months.

It’s for this reason that the majority of weddings are booked during these months. Couples want the sun shining, happy faces and colourful flowers in bloom. It’s a busy period for wedding venues, with weddings taking place nearly every day.

There is lots to think about when planning one wedding, let alone the influx that comes in the summer months. With plenty of areas to thinks about and lots of items to tick off, one item that can be bought in advance is the furniture. The furniture is an important aspect of the wedding venue: it helps to set the scene and complete the look of a venue.

Ceremony seating

The ceremony itself is the most meaningful part of the day. The bride and groom won’t be using them, but guests will want somewhere comfortable to sit. Stacking chairs are a popular choice as they can easily be stored away.

The chiavari chair is a popular choice as it provides an elegant, rustic look for any setting. The versatile chair works well in formal venues such as banquet halls as well as more casual settings such as tents and gardens.

The loopback chair gives a sophisticated and relaxed appearance at the same time. The dark oak makes the chairs better suited to outdoor venues or in rustic, outdoor spaces. 

Wedding reception furniture

Guests will be spending most of their time at the wedding reception. This is where family and friends will do speeches, meals will be served and the first dance will take place. Comfortable seating is a must as this is where the guests will be sat for longer periods of time.

Whatever style you are looking for, there are leather chairs, wooden chairs or metal stacking chairs to make sure that you get the most appropriate chairs for your reception.

Tables are another essential piece of furniture. Banquet tables are ideal as they can be folded away and can be draped with fabrics and decorated to each couples’ personal taste. The round banqueting folding table comes in a range of sizes and can seat up to 12 persons.

If you’re holding a buffet, trestle tablesare the perfect choice. They are easy to set up and move, and can be covered with decorative cloths and accessories to match the décor. They can also be used as the gift table.

Wedding venue furniture

Trent Furniture aims to cover all the furniture needs for wedding venues, to give you one less thing to worry about when it comes to planning for these special days. We have suitable seating, dining, and display options for every part of the day, from the ceremony to the reception.

For help in finding the right furniture for your venue and budget, speak to our team today on 0116 2982 620.

Banqueting companies or businesses that host events may find that buying their own banqueting furniture is cheaper and far more cost effective than renting banqueting furniture in the long run, especially at the sort of prices that Trent Furniture is able to provide banqueting furniture at.

The most important furniture for banqueting

Banqueting tables

The table is where most people will spend the majority of their time at a banquet; eating, drinking and being merry!  It’s therefore pretty important to have tables and especially the type of tables that are sturdy, strong and easy to move around.

For this reason, we offer a range of foldable round banqueting tables, starting at 92cm in diameter for under £35 each, up to tables that are 183cm in diameter for under £72. 

We also sell trolleys to transport and store your banqueting tables on for less than £126 each.

Banqueting chairs

In the same way that banqueting tables are important because people will be sitting at them, chairs are just as important because people will be sitting on them, again usually for long periods of time.  This means that good banqueting chairs should have two main features:

• They should be comfortable
• They should be customisable or the type of chair that can be made to fit different themes

A cushioned chair is a must for a banquet, but it still needs to be the type of banqueting chair that is stackable, so that it is easy to store without taking up too much space.  When considering stackable banqueting chairs, make sure that if they are going to be stored in a place where they’re likely to be knocked or brushed past regularly, that this will not cause them to become damaged or worn.  Something like this Taunton Stacking Chair is ideal for regular use and for taking in and out of storage many times.

Another good option for banqueting seating is this Chiavari Stacking Chair in limewash which is often bought for banqueting at weddings or summer events.

Where to buy banqueting furniture

For a large range of banqueting furniture, from tables and chairs to trolleys to transport them safely, visit the Trent Furniture website.  We specialise in furniture for all types of events and hospitality industries, offering a wide range of industry specific furniture at excellent prices.

So, you walk in and approach the bar at your regular pub and what do you order? A locally brewed beer or a glass of red wine might be the first options that come to mind, but how about a cup of tea? 

We Brits love our tea. Just to prove the point, four billion cups of tea are purchased outside of the home every year in the UK. It is most often associated with café’s and tea houses but the classic beverage is becoming increasingly important to pubs’ and bars’ revenues.

Speciality teas

Like with coffee, customers have become more knowledgeable in recent years and expect a greater variety of teas on the menu than just your standard English Breakfast. Mintel research shows that those aged 25 to 34 are twice as likely to drink speciality teas compared to those over the age of 55.

To appeal to the younger market, in particular, pubs and bars should have a selection that includes green, mint and fruit and herbal teas as well as traditional teas.

When is tea time?

For pubs and bars, there are two generally quieter periods of the day that can be improved by adding tea: brunch and afternoon.

Although it is drank throughout the day, morning and afternoon is the most popular times to drink tea out of the home. More customers are eating out for brunch, particularly on the weekends, so complimenting this customer base with the selection of teas that they crave will only help profits.

As for afternoon tea, it’s a ritual for Brits. But what was once exclusive to high-end hotels and luxury tea houses is also now common sight in pubs and bars. Making afternoon tea more accessible to customers has proved a success. Whether a luxury or casual establishment, businesses can tailor their afternoon tea offerings to their customer base. To save on time, pastries and sandwiches can be brought in pre-prepared.

Offering a selection of quality brews positions a pub or bar to be able to take advantage of this large market that shows no signs of slowing down. Now, where’s that kettle?

Pub furniture

Whether you’re looking for traditional pub furniture or furniture for a quaint area dedicated to afternoon tea, Trent Furniture has a range that adds to the aura of quality and Britishness. Browse our full selection of pub furniture here.

Pitching your pub as a venue for functions opens your space up to whole new markets. Your space can cater for weddings, birthdays, wakes, work dos, christenings and more. The possibilities are endless!

For customers, pubs that offer a space for hire are a popular choice as they also usually offer food and drink - all under one roof. The room may even be offered for free if there are a certain number of guests coming to the event; knowing that a large amount will be spent behind the bar.

So, what do pubs need to have in place before they diversify into a venue to hire?

Find a caterer

If the kitchen is overrun or you don’t have the facilities to provide food, there are still options available: you could operate a ‘bring your own food’ policy or find a reputable caterer in the area. You may need to have a relationship with a few different caterers so that you can open the choice of food provider out to the bookers.

Staff

If you are reluctant to hire out the whole venue or if the function room is in a separate area of the pub, extra staff will be needed to cope with the volume of people. Should the party receive poor service, your reputation could be affected. To prevent this, members of your team could be solely designated to serving the party.

Extra seating

It’s likely that a party, whether they take up half of your venue or the whole area, will bring a large amount of people.

Of course, there are times when your pub has busy periods and your pub will already have furniture in place to cope with these busy periods. But with plenty of people arriving, and having paid to use the space, it will be expected that there will be enough seating available for all. It’s advised to have extra seating that can easily be stored away should more seating be needed. Stacking chairs are an ideal option for this.

Foldable tables

Along with extra chairs, you may need some temporary tables. These will not only act as extra space for guests, they will also be useful for the buffets and food spreads that will be provided. Again, these tables should be storable so that they can be brought out as and when there is a function.

There are folding and stacking tables available in a range of sizes, so there is something suitable for every pub.

Trent Furniture’s extensive banquet furniture range is perfect for function events. But it’s not just furniture for functions that we provide. We also have furniture for pubs that can be used all year round.

Popular restaurant furniture

When most people think of restaurant furniture, the first thing that springs to mind is likely to be tables and chairs.  These are the most obvious, easy items to use to customise your restaurant, as they can be made from wood, plastic, metal or a mixture of any of these materials.

We find that a popular choice, which is relatively cheap and easy to customise in terms of colour as well as being ideal for mixing and matching with different materials, is to use a standard side chair with a pyramid table.  

This style of table is particularly popular for restaurants where space is an issue.  It’s far easier to fit people’s feet and bags underneath a table if there is just one pole supporting it.  A table like Trent Furniture’s Black Pyramid Table makes it easier to fit more chairs around it, for example, if a table for 2 becomes a table for 4 when having drinks or snacks.

Luxury restaurant furniture

There is still a novelty to having large, comfortable tub chairs in restaurants, usually as a pair around a table, or used alongside sofas.  Whilst tub chairs definitely look more expensive than your average chair, they do take up more room, so it’s worth considering how many people you ideally want to serve in your restaurant before splashing out on these.  

Having said that, they needn’t be particularly expensive.  Trent Furniture sells a range of tub chairs in different colours and styles, like this Portobello Cappuccino Tub Chair, which costs less than £100.

Modern restaurant furniture

When thinking of modern and restaurant furniture in the same sentence, it doesn’t have to mean clean lines and multi-coloured.  Sometimes a modern restaurant just needs a splash of colour, like a red leather chair to spruce up some dark wood tables.  Another way of using modern influences mixed in with those from the past is to use a chair with an unusually shaped back, for example the Malmo Armchair from Trent Furniture, or a set of chrome stools.

Bentwood furniture for businesses

Traditional bentwood furniture adds personality to any restaurant.  First produced in the 19th century, bentwood furniture is typically made out of darker woods and soaked or steamed with water, before being shaped.  The style makes chairs and stools look particularly decorative and turns the simplest of furniture into impressive items.  The Low Bentwood Stool range is an example of simply turned sophisticated.

Where to buy restaurant furniture

None of these options needs cost a fortune.  If you’re going to update your restaurant’s furniture or kit out a new one, from American diner style benches to ornate farmhouse tables, we have high-quality furniture at prices that won’t break the bank.