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Festival Bar Hire Reading & Berkshire.

The Sesh Bars supply a complete mobile bar for festivals, outdoor events, and community gatherings across Reading, Berkshire and the Thames Valley. Our units are built for outdoor operation, generator-ready, weatherproof, and staffed by professional bartenders who know how to keep a queue moving at volume. Open-bar rates are £6.50 per adult per hour without alcoholic cocktails or £7.50 with, for the first four hours.

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Mobile bar festival setup at an outdoor event in Berkshire with The Sesh Bars crew

Availability

Check Your Date.

Tell us the date and rough guest count. We confirm availability and send a price within 24 hours.

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Festival bar hire from The Sesh Bars provides outdoor-ready mobile bar hire units and professional bartenders for festivals, community events, and multi-day outdoor gatherings across Reading, Berkshire and the Thames Valley. The open bar is £6.50 per adult per hour without alcoholic cocktails or £7.50 with alcoholic cocktails for the first four hours, from a minimum of 100 chargeable adults, and includes batch cocktails, bottled beer, cider, wine, soft drinks, and a full bartender crew. Units are generator-ready with integrated water tanks, deploy on grass or hard standing, and include weatherproof gazebo structures. The Sesh Bars handles all logistics including site visits, power supply assessment, load-in routing, and licensing advice for Temporary Event Notices. Multi-bar configurations for events of 500+ guests are quoted individually.

Starting Price
From £2,600 or £3,000 with alcoholic cocktails (100 adults, 4 hours)
Capacity
200 to 1,000+ guests (multi-bar setup)
Setup Time
Agreed with you in advance
Power
Mains or generator-ready (hire available)
Surface
Grass, gravel, hard standing, or decking
Insurance
£5 million public liability included
01 - Outdoor Setup

Built for Outdoor Events.

Festival bars demand equipment that works without a building around it. Our mobile units operate independently of mains power, generator sets are available, and carry integrated water tanks for bar hygiene. Units deploy on grass, gravel, hard standing, or decking. We carry weighted gazebo structures for weather cover when the site has none.

The crew arrives with a full site kit: cable management, spill containment, signage, and waste bins. Glassware is plastic-free where festival licensing permits, we default to tempered glass for formal events and can switch to recyclable plastic cups for high-volume or crowded-site events on request. Setup time depends on the bar and venue access; a simple setup takes around 90 minutes and a full bar two to three hours. Multi-bar festival configurations are planned with a dedicated site visit.

  • Generator-ready units
  • Integrated water supply
  • Grass and hard-standing capable
  • Weatherproof structures
  • Glass or recyclable cups
  • Full waste management
  • Multi-bar configurations
  • Site visit for large events
02 - Drinks

Festival Drinks Menu.

Festival crowds want speed and choice in equal measure. Our festival bar menu anchors on batch cocktails, pre-mixed in quantity and served over ice in seconds, alongside bottled beer, canned cider, soft drinks, and a short spirits list for simple serves. This model keeps queue times under two minutes per order at volume.

For boutique and food festivals where dwell time is higher, we run a full cocktail menu alongside the speed bar. Popular festival serves include the Espresso Martini, Aperol Spritz, Velvet Bramble, and Garden Gimlet. Non-alcoholic cocktails are available on every festival package at no extra charge. See the full cocktail menu for the full list of options.

Batch Cocktails

Pre-mixed, fast serve, full flavour

Bottled & Canned

Beer, cider, soft drinks, water

Zero-Proof

Non-alcoholic cocktails on every package

03 - Pricing

Festival Bar Hire Pricing.

Our open bar is £6.50 per adult per hour without alcoholic cocktails or £7.50 with alcoholic cocktails, for the first four hours, then £4.50 per adult per hour after that. There is no separate bar-hire fee. The standard minimum is 100 chargeable adults and 4 hours, which starts from £2,600 without alcoholic cocktails or £3,000 with. For example, 150 adults for 4 hours is £3,900 without alcoholic cocktails or £4,500 with. This covers the drinks, plus professional bartenders, the bar unit, glassware or cups, ice, setup, and strike. No VAT is added on top of these rates. Multi-day festival configurations are quoted separately based on session length and site requirements.

Cash bar models, where guests pay for individual drinks, carry a £500 hire fee and a £1,500 minimum bar sales across the event, and the £500 fee includes VAT where applicable. Dry hire (bar unit, staff, and equipment only) is quoted individually. Generator hire is available as an add-on where site power is unavailable. Any travel charge is confirmed in your quote. See our cost guide for a full pricing breakdown or view all packages.

Open Bar

£6.50 per adult per hour

£7.50 with alcoholic cocktails, first 4hrs

Cash Bar

£500 hire fee

+ £1,500 min bar sales

Dry Hire

Quoted individually

Bar, staff, equipment

Open-bar rates have no VAT added on top. Other formats are confirmed in your quote.

04 - Festival Types

Types of Festival Events We Serve.

Festival bar hire covers a wider range of events than most people expect. Beyond music festivals, we serve food and drink festivals, charity fun days, school and community fetes, village fairs, sporting events, and outdoor cinema screenings across Reading and Berkshire. Corporate summer parties with a festival theme, at venues with outdoor space such as country houses, golf clubs, and riverside grounds on the Thames, use our multi-bar configurations with branded menus.

For smaller outdoor gatherings that are closer to a garden party than a festival, our private event bar hire or garden party bar hire packages may be a better fit. For indoor corporate events with festival theming, see our corporate event bar hire page. Festival bookings on the £7.50 rate include our full event cocktail menu.

If your event needs bartender staffing but you already have a bar structure on-site, our professional bartender hire service provides experienced staff without the bar unit. This is common for established festival sites that have permanent bar infrastructure but need reliable staff for peak weekends.

08 - FAQ

Festival Bar Hire FAQ.

How much does festival bar hire in Reading and Berkshire cost? +
Our open bar is £6.50 per adult per hour without alcoholic cocktails or £7.50 with alcoholic cocktails, for the first four hours, then £4.50 per adult per hour after that. There is no separate bar-hire fee. The standard minimum is 100 chargeable adults and 4 hours, so a festival bar starts from £2,600 without alcoholic cocktails or £3,000 with. For example, 150 adults for 4 hours is £3,900 without alcoholic cocktails or £4,500 with. No VAT is added on top of these rates. Generator hire, site access and multi-day events are discussed in your quote. Dry hire (bar unit, staff, and equipment only) is quoted individually.
Can you set up a bar at an outdoor festival without a fixed venue? +
Yes. The Sesh Bars operate purpose-built mobile units that require no fixed infrastructure. We work from generators if site power is unavailable, carry our own water supplies for bar cleaning, and build on grass, gravel, or hard standing. Site visits for larger festivals are included in the quote.
Who sorts the licensing for festival bar service? +
Licensing requirements are checked for each event, and we can arrange a Temporary Event Notice where required and agreed. For licensed festival sites we confirm how service fits within your premises licence. Do not leave this to the last minute as TEN applications need at least 10 working days.
How many bartenders do you provide for a festival? +
Festival bar staffing is based on one bartender per 50 guests per service period as a baseline. High-volume events, cash bars, and events with complex cocktail menus require higher ratios. We always err on the side of extra staff, a slow bar kills festival atmosphere faster than anything else. Staffing levels are confirmed at the quote stage.
What locations do you provide festival bar hire for? +
The Sesh Bars provides festival bar hire across Reading, Berkshire and the Thames Valley. Common festival sites include parks and recreation grounds, village greens, riverside meadows, farm fields, and private estates around Reading, Newbury, Windsor, Maidenhead, Henley-on-Thames, and Bracknell. Any travel charge is confirmed in your quote.
Can you provide bar hire for a multi-day festival? +
Yes. Multi-day festival bar hire is quoted individually based on the number of sessions, daily service hours, guest volume, and site access. We staff in shifts to maintain service quality across long days and can leave bar equipment securely on-site overnight between sessions. Multi-day events typically receive a site visit before the event to plan logistics, power, water, and waste management.
What is the queue time at a festival bar run by The Sesh Bars? +
We target a maximum queue time of two minutes per order at peak service. This is achieved by using batch-prepared cocktails served over ice (no individual shaking at volume), maintaining a bartender-to-guest ratio of 1:50 for cocktail service, and running multiple bar points for events above 200 guests. Cash bar events with card payments only are fastest, we provide contactless card readers at every bar point.

Other Services

Areas We Cover

Open bar price estimate

Estimate Your Bar Cost.

£2,600 without alcoholic cocktails

£3,000 with alcoholic cocktails

Open bar: £6.50 per adult per hour without alcoholic cocktails, £7.50 with alcoholic cocktails, for the first four hours. Extra hours are £4.50 per adult per hour. Mocktails and alcohol-free drinks are included in both rates, and the £7.50 rate adds alcoholic cocktails. No VAT is added on top. Open-bar rates apply from 100 adults; smaller events are quoted individually. Cash bar and dry hire options are on the pricing page.

Get a Free Quote.

Share your event details and receive a mobile bar hire quote within 24 hours. No obligation.

Or reach us directly

Call 0118 449 3066 WhatsApp Email
Enquiries Mon-Fri · 09:00-18:00 Enquiries Sat · 10:00-16:00