Venue Cost Calculator — Compare Venue Hire Costs

Village halls cost £100-£400. Pub function rooms are often free with a minimum bar spend (£500-£1,500). Hotel function rooms run £500-£3,000. Barn venues cost £1,000-£5,000. Prices vary hugely by region, day of week, and time of year.

Corkage is a fee the venue charges for each bottle of wine or champagne you bring in. UK corkage ranges from £5-£15 per bottle. Some venues charge corkage on all alcohol. Always ask whether the venue allows BYO and what the corkage fee is.

Common extras include: cleaning fee (£50-£200), security/doorman (£150-£300), corkage, overtime charges, cloakroom, table and chair hire, PA system hire, car park attendant, and a damage deposit (usually refundable). The damage deposit is returned to you after the event, so this calculator holds it separately and does not add it to the headline cost — it is not VATable either (HMRC treats a refundable security deposit as outside the scope of VAT).

Bare room hire on its own is usually exempt from VAT, so a simple village or community hall booking may have no VAT at all. However, VAT at 20% applies when the room is supplied as part of a catering package, the venue has "opted to tax", or it forms part of a wedding package (HMRC treats wedding-package room hire as standard-rated). This calculator defaults to 20% — set the VAT Rate to 0% in Advanced Options if your hire is genuinely exempt.

Weekdays and Sundays are typically 20-40% cheaper than Friday and Saturday. January, February, and November are the cheapest months. Daytime hire is cheaper than evening. Off-peak bookings can save hundreds of pounds.