<p>We pulled our own rate card and built a price index for the items event planners ask about most: chairs, tables, glassware, cutlery and linen. Every figure below is a live day-hire rate, ex VAT, taken directly from our current stock system in August 2026.</p>
<p>We pulled our own rate card and built a price index for the items event planners ask about most: chairs, tables, glassware, cutlery and linen. Every figure below is a live day-hire rate, ex VAT, taken directly from our current stock system in August 2026.</p>
Event budgets live or die on furniture and tableware costs, and most of that pricing sits behind quote forms rather than public rate cards. Here's what these items actually cost to hire across the UK in 2026.
| Item | Hire price per day (ex VAT) |
|---|---|
| Folding chair | £1.65 |
| Chiavari banqueting chair | £4.25 |
| Rectangular trestle table (4ft) | £5.50 |
| Aluminium round table | £12.00 |
| Poseur/cocktail table | £14.00 |
| Wine glass or champagne flute | £0.30 |
| Table fork | £0.30 |
| Dinner plate | £0.35 |
| White tablecloth (54") | £9.00 |
| Bar stool | £16.00 |
| Chafing dish | £10.00 |
| Red carpet (1m x 10m) | £95.00 |
A typical 100-guest reception needs roughly 100 chairs, 12 round tables, 100 place settings and linen for every table. At the rates above, that comes to around £850 for one day's hire. Buying the same equipment new would run past £8,000, and you'd still need somewhere to store it afterwards.
That gap is the whole argument for hiring over buying for a single event, and it's why day rates on individual items matter more than most planners realise when they build a budget.
Choose from our vast range of catering hire, furniture hire and exhibition hire products. Select from the categories listed below or use our great search function above.
