A bar at a wake should be there when people need it and invisible the rest of the time. We bring the bar, the glassware, and licensed staff to your venue, set up before guests arrive, and serve quietly for as long as you need. No flair, no branding on show, no music from us. Call 020 8087 4269 and we will keep it simple.
Availability
Send the date and rough numbers and we will confirm whether we are free the same working day. Short notice is normal for us.
Enquiry received
We check availability by hand and reply the same working day. If your event is close, call 020 8087 4269 or message us on WhatsApp and we will answer faster.
The bar, the staff, and the drinks are the same ones we take to any event. What changes is how they arrive and how they behave. Bartenders wear plain black rather than branded uniform. There is no cocktail theatre, no shaking for show, no printed menu cards left on the tables, and no music from our side. We are there to pour drinks and clear glasses, not to be noticed.
Where the venue allows it, we set up in full before anyone arrives, so the first guests walk into a room that is already ready. We take direction from you or from the funeral director on when the bar opens, how long it runs, and when to close. Pack down is done quietly at the end, and we do not start clearing while people are still talking.
Black shirts, no branding, no uniform on show
Drinks made straight, served without theatre
In before guests arrive, out without fuss
Some families ask for a favourite drink of the person who has died to be served on the day, and we are glad to do that if you want it. Others want nothing said at all. Both are fine. Tell us which when you book and we will follow it exactly.
Every booking includes the mobile bar unit, licensed bartenders, quality glassware, ice, and full setup and strike. We arrive well ahead of the reception and leave the room as we found it. Public liability insurance of £5 million and personal alcohol licences for every bartender are included at no extra cost, which is what most venues will ask you for in writing.
Soft drinks and non-alcoholic options are stocked as standard. We do not provide tea and coffee. That is usually handled by the venue or the caterer, and we will work around whatever they are doing.
If you would prefer staff without the bar unit, for example where the venue already has a counter, our bar staff hire service covers that instead.
Village halls, golf and country clubs, hotel function rooms, pubs with a private room, community centres, crematorium reception rooms, and private homes. Village halls are the most common by some distance, and we know the practical problems well: no bar counter, one plug socket, and a kitchen hatch that everyone queues at. We bring everything, so the hall only has to provide the room.
Licensing is the part families rarely expect. Hotels, golf clubs, and pubs hold their own premises licence and nothing extra is needed. Village halls and private estates often do not, and a Temporary Event Notice is required wherever alcohol is sold. We confirm the position when we quote and handle the application with the relevant council. Our guide to mobile bar licensing explains it in full if you want the detail.
We are based in Reading and travel across the county without a travel charge, which covers Windsor, Maidenhead, Henley-on-Thames, Newbury, Wokingham, and Bracknell. Full details are on our Berkshire mobile bar hire page. London bookings are quoted the same way.
Hotels, golf clubs, pubs. Nothing extra needed
Village halls and homes. We handle the TEN
Reading based, no travel fee across Berkshire
There is no separate funeral price list. You choose from the same three options as any other booking, and which one suits depends mostly on who is paying for the drinks. Every quote is fixed before the day, so there is no bill to settle afterwards while everything else is being sorted out.
Guests buy their own. £1,500 min spend
You supply the drinks, we run the bar
We supply and serve everything
Many families take a middle route: a tab that covers the first drink and all soft drinks, with guests paying for anything beyond it. We set the tab at a fixed figure and close it cleanly when it is reached, without announcing it to the room. Full costs are on our packages and pricing page. Send us the date and the venue and we will come back with a figure.
All prices exclude VAT. Final quote depends on guest numbers, duration, and venue access. Short notice dates are worth asking about, weekday availability is usually good.
Share your event details and receive a mobile bar hire quote within 24 hours. No obligation.
Enquiry received
Thanks, your enquiry is with us. We reply within 24 hours on working days. If your event is close, call 020 8087 4269 or message us on WhatsApp for a faster answer.