Expo Hire launched in 2014 as the UK's first fully online event equipment hire business. 11 regional depots, no deposit, live stock and pricing.
Expo Hire launched in Birmingham in 2014. The aim was direct: give event buyers live stock, live pricing and a working online checkout instead of a slow manual quote chain.
<p>That mattered because event hire had a stubborn gap. Buyers could see products, but they often could not see real availability or final cost until a hire desk checked the order by hand. Expo Hire set out to remove that delay.</p>
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<h2>How the business started</h2>
<p>The business began as an event hire specialist in Birmingham. The first version of the site focused on the practical side of hire: what is in stock, what it costs, where it can go and when it can be delivered.</p>
<p>That approach pulled the order process closer to how event teams work. Buyers could build the basket around the real event plan instead of waiting for a quote to come back later.</p>
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<h2>Building an online-first hire model</h2>
<p>Expo Hire put live availability and live pricing at the centre of the site from the start. That gave caterers, venues and organisers a faster way to plan mixed orders across furniture, tableware and catering equipment.</p>
<p>The online-first model did not remove service. It changed where the service sits. The site handles the pricing and stock view, while the team steps in when a buyer needs help with quantities, delivery notes, specialist equipment or a larger booking structure.</p>
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<h2>Growth from one base to 11 depots</h2>
<p>Expo Hire started from a single Birmingham base and then expanded the depot network across England and Wales. The business now works through 11 depots, which gives it reach into exhibition venues, racecourses, universities, city centres and temporary event sites across the delivery area.</p>
<p>That growth supports the service model that customers now expect: Sunday delivery and collection, live tracking, broad stock depth and route planning from the nearest depot.</p>
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<h2>EventPro and stock built for hire</h2>
<p>As the business grew, Expo Hire developed the <a href="/about-us/eventpro">EventPro</a> range. That range reflects a lesson from the field. Retail furniture does not hold up well when crews stack it, strap it, load it and move it through a full event season.</p>
<p>EventPro gave Expo Hire a stock base built around hire realities. It also gave customers a clearer choice between short-term hire through Expo Hire and permanent ownership through Expo Direct.</p>
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<h2>Clients, events and operating scale</h2>
<p>Expo Hire's event history includes supply linked to Glastonbury, Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix. The business also supports exhibitions, conferences, exam contracts, gala dinners, outdoor events and temporary kitchens.</p>
<p>That mix matters because it shows the range of the work. One day may call for conference chairs and registration tables. The next may call for bars, glassware and dining furniture. The operating model has to hold up across both.</p>
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<h2>Expo Direct and the next step</h2>
<p>In 2018 the group launched <a href="https://www.expodirect.co.uk">Expo Direct</a>, the sister business that sells the same commercial stock outright. That move gave repeat buyers a second route when ownership made more sense than hire.</p>
<p>Expo Hire remains the short-term event side of that picture. Expo Direct covers permanent purchase. Both draw on the same commercial event background.</p>
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<h2>Where the story stands now</h2>
<p>Today Expo Hire is still built around the same practical idea that shaped the launch in 2014: show real stock, show real prices, route orders cleanly and give buyers a direct path from plan to delivery.</p>
<p>The service has expanded, the depot network has grown and the stock base is deeper, but the working logic is the same.</p>Expo Hire launched in Birmingham in 2014 as an online-first event equipment hire business.
It was started to give event buyers live stock, live pricing and a direct online ordering route instead of a slow manual quote process.
The depot network expanded across England and Wales, the stock base deepened and the EventPro range was developed for repeated commercial hire use.
Expo Hire handles short-term hire and Expo Direct sells the same type of commercial stock for permanent ownership.