The pandemic has seen many businesses struggle, having to adapt to stay afloat, and the marquee industry has been no exception. With many marquee companies having roots in the wedding industry, we have had the year of 2020 completely wiped out although still working to juggle many client bookings, moving dates to the following year and with some changing dates a many as 3 times. All unpaid work without knowing just when it would all end bought stresses and strains that test you.
One notable difference we have seen is the rise of other industries making contact to explore the use of marquees to help with covid restrictions, to enable their businesses to stay afloat during these extremely tough times. This has been somewhat of a saviour for most marquee companies big and small. We picked up covid related marquees for schools, gyms, pubs and homes to name a few.
Long Terms Marquee Hire Of All Sizes
The great thing about the clearspan type of marquees we supply are their versatility, making them capable of being installed at both small and large areas in a combination of shapes to suit the venue and it’s requirements
Small Marquees
This local pub required something from our smallest range (3m wide) to accommodate their narrow frontage. To begin with we installed 2 separate structures that were both 3m wide and 9m long. Infrared heating lamps and festoon lighting made the space usable over the back end of the winter so pub guests were warm as well as being abl to see what they were eating.
As the pandemic rolled on and the weather improved into the spring the manager wanted the marquees moved so they could make better use of the outside space they had. Although we kept both marquees at the same size, we butted them together and guttered in between to make a seamless ‘L’ shaped marquee. This is something the clearspan is very good for because other marquee types, like tipis, capris and traditional marquees to name a few, just can’t offer this type of thing. They have a set footprint which can’t be changed.
Our smaller marquees are ideal for Garden Parties and you can find more info at our Garden Party Marquee page.
Big Marquees
At the other end of the scale we have some marquees installed for a much larger company across multiple sites. These started at 9m wide and 21m long and went up to 12m wide and 30m long. Used as additional space for their own clients to be able to socially distance, they stayed up for close to 6 months and were installed with a solid marquee flooring system.
Other pubs had a more regular sized structure, like the one below which was installed at a local Hall and Woodhouse pub. A 6m wide frame at 9m in length, housed beer tables to give a sheltered area. Infrared heating lamps running down each side to give heat coverage to nearly 100% of the people using it. Festoon lighting starting inside and then continuing outside into the smoking area brings the different elements togehter nicely.
Poole Lighthouse wanted to explore putting on more oustide events during early summer and needed a 9m x 3m structure for a couple of months to house their bar. It’s great to see how companies all over are facing the challenges put upon us and being proactive. These guys inparticular have requested the structure be bought back for a second install at a later date due to the sucess the whole idea was.
It’s this type of thing , a forced change, which has made people step outside the comfort zone and see what else can work for them. The events industry has been hard hit but it will bounce back because everyone has an event they like going to. I mean just imagine not having any events ever again!
Football Marquees – At Home And For Business
We were so close to bringing it home but it wasnt meant to be. England were supporters do love a football competition and we supplied a few marquees for the Euros. Month long marquee hires both in peoples back gardens so they could get their mates round, and for bigger corporate clients to make sure they could maximise their capacity.
This marquee above was pitched in Parley, Dorset for a big footy fan and it was used for every game. After we installed the 6m x 9m they added a projector, bar setup and a food station to make sure they had everything to hand for the games. Because we were installing astro turf we couldn’t fully use our normal staking method to secure the marquee down, water weights with ratchet straps were bought in to do the same job down one side of the frame and even though we had winds pick up to 60 mph during a couple fo stromy night, the marquee didn’t budge.
For a corporate client we popped up a 12m rig with blackout lining at one end so they could mount a projector to give a clear picture of the games. Flooring and festoon lighting is all they needed from us, they alrweady had the beer tables and they commissioned the artwork on the boards which looked amazing. All England games were ticketed and they sold out for each one.
Covid Safe Marquees For Schools
Literally everyone was affected in some way and school were highlighted regularly in the news as one of the important issues. When things started to settle down and schools returned they still had to adapt to make sure they followed covid guidelines to help protect staff and students.
These 6m square structures made up of 6m chinese hats and 6m frames were installed for a school to enable students to have their end of year ceremonies. 12 marquees went up for the 12 different houses which were then matted and left open fronted. The scenery was amazing and the weather was great.