Marquees
The final word in luxurious and elegant shelter, marquees are a versatile product to have at your disposal. They offer a wealth of opportunity for covering anywhere between a few people and a few hundred. They are as suited for providing a clean and comfortable environment at home and garden parties as they are for sheltering several hundred revellers at a festival or guests at a wedding.
This page explores what a marquee is, what they can be used for, and how to erect one safely, amongst other useful pieces of informative content.
The Gala Tent Range of Marquees
3m Span | 4m Span | 6m Span
3m Span | 4m Span | 6m Span
6m Span | 9m Span
What is a marquee?
A marquee is a large tent that’s usually used for social events and commercial functions, although due to their versatility they can also be used as temporary shops, festival stage covering and beer garden shade, amongst many other applications.
A marquee has internal framework manufactured from steel or aluminium, which is covered by a material such as PVC or canvas-like materials.
Whether you’re looking to cover your family at a birthday party, your loved ones at a wedding, or a swimming pool, a marquee is an indispensable piece of equipment.
Choose from PE or PVC marquee covers
240gsm Polyethylene Marquee Covers
- Double-coated for water resistance
- Zipped connection and Door Opening
- Fire-rated and compliant with BS 5438 and BS7837
- 3 door options on both end walls
- Privacy blinds built in on sidewall windows
650gsm PVC Cover Marquees
- Super-thick PVC
- Self-cleaning material
- Sides and Ends connect with Dutch Lacing
- Fire-rated and compliant with BS 5438 and BS7837
- 3 door options on both end walls
Marquee Framework
Our range of marquees are available with powder coated steel framework or aluminium, depending on the size you need, and the model you choose.
Powder-coated steel marquee frames
The smaller marquees (Original PE and Elite PVC, both available from 3m x 2m up to 6m x 12m) have a white, powder-coated steel frame, which consists of poles and joints up to 44m in diameter (depending on the width of the marquee and the demand for additional strength).
This clean, white powder-coating is in direct contrast to cheaper marquees available on the market which use dirty, galvanised steel that leaves a dark residue on your skin, clothes, and the interior of the marquee covers.
We supply spare components for all of our marquee frames, which means that even in the case of accidental damage, you can simply replace a pole, joint, or bolt.
Industrial aluminium marquee frames
The Gala Tent Fusion marquee is an industrial strength marquee which uses seriously robust T6061 aluminium posts, beams and tensioning equipment. The material used in these frames is like the kind of framework found in pre-fab steel buildings.
The Fusion marquee is a modular structure, which means that it can be extended or reduced in size by 3m increments. The covers for the Fusion are also modular, which means that if you purchase a 9m x 15m sized marquee, then depending on the need, you can reduce it to 9m x 12m, 9m x 9m etc.
Equally, if you require larger, then you can simply purchase add-on sections to increase the marquee to practically unlimited lengths.
Marquee for Business
Our range of marquees are suitable for all manner of business applications. We have a vast client base from the event planning and marquee hiring industry. Whether they have been hired out for luxurious private parties in a large garden or used by professional football teams for temporary training spaces, with sizes up to 9m x 30m, Gala Tent marquees are a trusted product by professionals.
Marquee for at home in the garden
Entertain and shelter your party guests, whatever the weather. Our clients have used Gala Tent marquees at home in the garden for 25 years. Extend your home at Christmas, create a comfortable summer house experience, or simply erect it for a weekend barbecue. Sizes such as 3m x 6m or 4m x 8m are perfect for people with some space in the garden that would benefit for some shelter.
Popular uses for a marquee
As mentioned, marquees are very popular across a range of sectors and for various purposes. Here are some common situations that you might find one.
Marquee Weddings
The marquee wedding is one of the fastest growing types of celebration for happy couple, with 1 in 5 brides suggesting that they were planning their wedding around hosting the breakfast and evening party in a marquee. The key benefit, beyond the fact that a marquee is much cheaper than a hotel function room, is that a marquee for your wedding is a blank canvas. You can add all your own personality and create a superb DIY experience for your happy day.
Beer Gardens
During the social distancing era, marquees became the biggest must-have for pubs and restaurants to be able to continue trading, offering space, air-flow and additional shelter. Since then, marquees have remained a key asset for hospitality venues to extend their capacity.
Festival Marquee
Depending on the size of the festival and the size of the marquee, they have multiple uses. From beer tents and craft spaces to first aid zones and acoustic stage tents, marquees are a regular at many festivals around the country.
Home Extension Marquee
During summer, or at Christmas, marquees are a common sight in gardens. They can be used to create additional room for guests to eat, or they can be a summer house extension. The use of the tent can change as per the season. For example, one of our customers uses it as an outdoor bar and hot tub shelter in summer, and then converts it to a dining room in winter.
How to build a marquee
Building a marquee is generally easier when you have more people to help to erect it. The general rule of thumb is to build the roof section first before you place the canopy over it. Then lift one side of the marquee to slot the legs into the roof section, and repeat the act on the other side until the marquee is standing. Attach your sidewalls and end walls using bungee toggles and connect them together
For health and safety, we recommend one person per leg of one side. For example, a 3m x 6m marquee will have 4 legs on each side. A 4m x 10m marquee will have 6 legs on each side, so 6 people would be recommended. If one person slots a leg in each, then you are protecting everybody from harm.
Marquees in a nut shell
Whether for personal or commercial use, a marquee will offer elegance and luxury to any situation where shelter is required. They offer warmth and comfort when used together with marquee heaters, and shelter from all weathers. As a blank canvas, they are super customisable inside so you can create any environment that you can visualise – the only limit is your imagination.
If you’re in the market for a marquee, whether small and compact for your garden or large and airy for a commercial event, but you’re not sure which one is best suited for you, then our team is available to chat to on 01709 242454, through the live chat function, or why not drop us a message here and we’ll be back in touch quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Gala Tent sells marquees that can cost anything from £289.99 inc VAT for the 3m x 2m Original PE Marquee, up to £12,014.99 for a 9m x 30m Fusion Marquee. We recommend you search for your size of tent or give the team a call on 01709 242454 to get the right one for you.
It will depend on the size and weight of the tent, but we recommend that for sizes longer than 6m, you have one person for each leg on one side. For example, a 6m x 12m marquee will have 8 legs on either side. As you lift one side of the roof up to put the legs on, it will be easier and safer for your team if you have one person slotting a leg in. For Fusion Marquees, it will require a good team to ensure the heavy parts are secure.
It does depend on the size of the marquee and the number of people involved, but this is a good rule of thumb:
2m x 3m – Approx 30 minutes
3m x 3m – Approx 30 minutes
3m x 4m – Approx 45 minutes
3m x 6m – Approx 1 hour
3m x 8m – Approx 1 hour 15 minutes
3m x 10m – Approx 90 minutes
4m x 4m – Approx 45 minutes
4m x 6m – Approx 1 hour
4m x 8m – Approx 1 hour 15 minutes
4m x 10m – Approx 90 minutes
4m x 12m – Approx 1 hour 45 minutes
6m x 4m – Approx 1 hour 15 minutes
6m x 6m – Approx 90 minutes
6m x 8m – Approx 1 hour 45 minutes
6m x 10m – Approx 2 hours
6m x 12m – Approx 2 hours 15 minutes
Absolutely yes. Gala Tent has a strong reputation amongst professional hirers, and we work alongside many successful operations to provide them with commercial quality marquees. If you’re interested in starting a marquee hire business then give us a call on 01709 242454. We have many resources available to give you the best possible start.
There are two marquee cover materials available from Gala Tent: 240gsm PE and 650gsm PVC. Both materials are at least 20% heavier than the next available competitor’s comparable products.
Gala Tent sells spare parts for every single component of your party tent or commercial marquee. From nuts and bolts to poles and beams, to sides and canopies. Our expert guide will help you to find the spare part required if you already own a Gala Tent, but if you aren’t sure then give our team of experts a call on 01709 242454 and they’ll be happy to help.
The marquees for sale at Gala Tent are absolutely fine for use all year round, but this is not to say we recommend leaving them up all year round. They are incredibly strong products but they are not indestructible and severe weather can damage them. Use common sense around when you erect them if strong winds are predicted, and ensure any snow that falls on one is brushed off regularly. See our guide to using marquees in adverse weather conditions.
Yes, all of the marquees supplied by Gala Tent offer high water resistance. The covers of the 240gsm PE marquee are double-coated to ensure so water can infiltrate the material, and the 650gsm PVC is absolutely waterproof.
We recommend that you ensure your panels are all connected together firmly and use the correct number of bungee toggles to fix the covers to the framework to avoid any liquid finding its way in through the edges. Also ensure that all skirting on the bottom of your sides and end walls are placed correctly, facing away from the tent to protect the bottom of the marquee from rainwater.
Yes you can. These are generally referred to as Car Ports here at Gala Tent, and you can find a full range here.
It’s not generally a service that’s offered here at Gala Tent to have all of the marquee covers customised, but we are able to print onto the end walls above the doorway. We recommend that you contact our team on 01709 242454 to discuss your needs.
It’s a good question, but one that can be answered by the fact that we have spent over twenty years developing and honing our structures, and have grown to become the UK’s leading supplier of the marquees we well. We have the UK’s largest stocked warehouse of over sixty different marquee options and will dispatch on the same day when orders are placed before 4pm. Simply put, we know what we’re doing, and we want you to own the best without paying over the odds for it.
We believe in the old saying that if you buy cheap, you will buy twice. Purchasing a cheap marquee may appear like good business at the time, but considering that the cost dictates the quality of the materials you’ll receive, and you will be unlikely to have access to an effective selection of spare parts, it can quickly become a false economy when the structure is damaged quickly. By the time you are on your third or fourth structure you may as well have just bought a good quality one. We’ve spoken with countless customers who have had this same issue.
Beyond the cost implications, having a cheap structure over your head can also be unsafe. Some retailers supply 6m wide party tents with thin poles, and no supporting braces in the roof section, which is carrying the weight of the roof canopy. A tent this wide either must use superior quality framework, or ensure that the roof is supported. At Gala tent, we do both.
Here’s a video which can illustrate the cost that can be incurred by purchasing cheap structures.
Yes you can. Gala Tent offers a variety of finance options, from 0% APR Pay later in 30 days or Pay in 3. Visit our finance info page for more detailed information.
