Free glass hire from supermarkets is long gone. Before booking glassware hire elsewhere, read what hidden costs to look out for.
Free glass hire from supermarkets is long gone. Before booking glassware hire elsewhere, read what hidden costs to look out for.
Waitrose ran a free glass loan scheme for years. Customers could borrow wine glasses and champagne flutes for parties and weddings at no charge. That scheme ended, and the gap it left has pushed a lot of people toward commercial hire companies for the first time.
This guide covers what to look for in a glass hire company, how breakage charges work, and why cleaning is usually not your problem.
The Waitrose scheme worked because it had no upfront costs and the glasses were easy to collect and return. Commercial hire is different — prices start from around £40 ex-VAT for delivery, calculated by road distance from the nearest depot. That is the main cost change people notice.
Expo Hire stocks thousands of wine, pint, and speciality glasses across 11 regional depots in England and Wales. Stock levels and pricing update in real time on the website. You select your hire dates, check availability, and confirm your order online.
Breakages happen during glassware hire. The key thing to check before booking any supplier is whether they require a security deposit and how they handle damage. Some companies charge large deposits upfront — amounts that can exceed the hire cost itself, which creates cashflow problems for smaller events, charities, and school functions.
Expo Hire charges no security deposit on any order. We include a free slight damage waiver on every booking, which covers minor chips and cracks from normal use. We charge a standard replacement fee for significant losses in line with our terms.
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Washing hundreds of glasses by hand takes hours, and most breakages happen at the sink. Venue managers and festival operators running tight turnarounds do not have time for it.
We operate a mandatory Send It Back Dirty policy across all crockery hire, glassware, and cutlery hire. You pack the used glasses back into their transport crates unwashed. Our Birmingham head office processes every return through industrial washing facilities. You do not pay a cleaning charge, and you reduce your breakage risk by not washing on site.
Delivery starts from £40 ex-VAT. Select your hire dates on any product page to see live pricing and confirm your order online.
Commercial glass hire from Expo Hire starts from £0.45 per glass for standard wine glasses, £0.55 for champagne flutes, and £0.65 for crystal wine glasses. For a 100-person event with wine and a toast, budget around £80 to £120 for glassware before delivery. That compares to buying glasses outright at around £2 to £5 per unit — hire is the rational choice for a one-off event.
Expo Hire collects all glassware unwashed. You do not need to rinse or sort. Crate the glasses correctly — base down, no overcrowding — and leave the cleaning to the depot. The free Minor Damage Waiver covers normal breakage. Read the full glassware hire guide for quantities and ordering tips.
Majestic Wine, Morrisons and Tesco all run free glass loan schemes tied to buying drinks from them, and the terms trip people up. Most require a minimum spend, a card deposit per glass, and a return within a set number of days — miss the window and the deposit doesn't come back. None of them supply champagne coupes, cocktail glasses or crystal styles, only standard wine glasses.
Hiring from Expo Hire removes the spend requirement and the deposit. You choose exactly which glasses you need — wine, champagne flute, cocktail, crystal — in the quantity your event needs, and you're not tied to a particular drinks supplier. The same no-deposit, send-it-back-dirty terms above apply whether you're replacing a supermarket scheme or hiring for the first time.
All glassware is available with live stock and live pricing on every product page. Choose your delivery date, select quantities, and book without calling. Sunday delivery is available if your event falls over a weekend.
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