Buying a Used Mobile Bar Trailer in the UK: What to Check Before You Pay

By The CaterBids Team

A bar trailer looks simple: a box, a hatch and a row of taps. Inside, it has a gas system, a cooling system, a water system and electrics, all towed down bumpy lanes to fields and car parks.

If you're looking at a used mobile bar trailer for sale in the UK, here's what to check before you pay.

Start With the Towing Rules

Check you can legally tow it first. GOV.UK sets out the limits:

• Your licence: If you passed your car test on or after 1 January 1997, you can tow a trailer up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass (MAM). If you passed before that date, you can usually drive a vehicle and trailer with a combined MAM of up to 8,250kg.
• Brakes: The trailer must have a working brake system if it weighs over 750kg when loaded.
• Size: The maximum trailer width is 2.55 metres. If your towing vehicle has a MAM of 3,500kg or less, the trailer can't be longer than 7 metres.
• Mirrors and plates: You need towing mirrors if the trailer is wider than the back of your vehicle. The fine for not having them is up to £1,000 and 3 penalty points. The trailer must also show the same number plate as the car pulling it.

Compare the trailer's weight plate with your vehicle's towing limit on the day you view it. For the chassis, axle and hitch, use our 12-point check for a used catering trailer.

Check the Gas, Then the Beer Lines

Beer is dispensed using gas cylinders under pressure. A leak in a small, closed space is dangerous.

• Cylinder supply: The British Compressed Gases Association (BCGA) advises buying dispense gas from a reputable supplier. Each cylinder should carry a product label and a food traceability label, plus a complete coloured test date ring.
• Securing: Dundee City Council's cellar safety guidance says connected cylinders should be kept upright and secured with a chain.
• Ventilation and detection: The same council guidance says cylinders should only be moved in ventilated vehicles. The BCGA advises fitting gas detection where your risk assessment calls for it.
• Line cleaning: The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) says beer lines must be cleaned with a food-grade cleaner at least once every 7 days. Nozzles should be soaked after each session. Ask for the cleaning record and look inside the nozzles.

Water, Glass Washing and Hygiene

A bar that serves drinks is a food business. GOV.UK says registration covers businesses that sell food or drink, including from a mobile unit. Registration is free, and you must register at least 28 days before you start trading.

The food hygiene rules for mobile premises (Regulation 852/2004, Annex II, Chapter III) require:

• Hand washing: proper facilities for washing and drying hands.
• Water: an adequate supply of hot and/or cold drinking-quality water.
• Cleaning: a way to clean, and where needed disinfect, equipment and utensils.

On a bar trailer, that usually means a hand basin, fresh and waste water tanks and a pump. Run them all. For the glasswasher, our used glasswasher guide lists the checks.

The Electrics

BS 7671, the UK wiring regulations, has a section for mobile and transportable units. Section 717 names catering units and fast food vans.

• RCD protection: Section 717 requires each item of equipment used outside the unit to be protected by its own RCD rated at no more than 30 mA.
• Sockets: External plugs and sockets must meet BS EN 60309 and have at least IP44 protection.
• Testing: The IET's guidance says the unit should be inspected and tested at least once a year, with a report you can show. The connecting cable, plugs and sockets should be checked by eye before every trip.

No report means budgeting for a qualified electrician before your first booking.

Licensing: What the Trailer Doesn't Come With

You can't buy an alcohol licence with the trailer. In England and Wales, most one-off events use a Temporary Event Notice (TEN). GOV.UK sets the limits:

• Size and length: fewer than 500 people at any time, including staff, and no more than 168 hours.
• How many: up to 5 TENs a year, or up to 50 if you hold a personal licence. One site can have up to 15 TENs a year, as long as they total no more than 21 days.
• Timing and cost: apply at least 10 clear working days before the event (late TENs need 5), and pay a £21 fee.

If the sale includes bookings or a trading name, read our guide on buying a catering business, not just the van. Most private sales are also "sold as seen", so know what that phrase means for you before you pay.

Your Viewing Checklist

• Weight plate checked against your licence and your vehicle's towing limit
• Brakes, lights and hitch working
• Gas cylinders chained upright, with complete test date rings
• Line cleaning history and clean nozzles
• Hand basin, water supply, pump and waste tank tested
• Latest electrical inspection report seen
• Cooler and glasswasher run from cold

You can browse bar trailers and other catering vans and trailers, or search all used catering equipment for sale UK.

Selling a Bar Trailer?

Have the weight plate photo, electrical report and line cleaning records ready. Buyers ask for them first. Your first listing is free while our launch offer lasts, then from £5 for 30 days. No commission and no final value fee.

BUY • SELL • SAVE

Sources

• GOV.UK, Towing with a car: https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car
• GOV.UK, Temporary events notice: https://www.gov.uk/temporary-events-notice
• GOV.UK, Starting a food business: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/starting-a-food-business
• Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Annex II, Chapter III (legislation.gov.uk): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/852/annex/II/2020-12-31
• British Beer & Pub Association, Technical Circular 379, line cleaning guidance: https://admin.beerandpub.com/media/w3xfd3xz/tech-379-line-cleaning-guidance-revised.pdf
• BCGA, beverage gases safety poster (published via Lancaster City Council): https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/assets/attach/12662/New-Beverage-Gases-Poster-1..pdf
• Dundee City Council, cellar safety: https://dundeecity.gov.uk/node/63986
• IET, Mobile and transportable units (BS 7671 Section 717): https://electrical.theiet.org/media/1633/mobile-and-transportable-units.pdf