How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Restaurant for a Private Event in Birmingham?

If you have been asked to organise a work dinner, a milestone birthday or a client reception, the first question your finance team will ask is the one most venues answer with “it depends”.

That is not much help when you are trying to build a budget. So here is a straightforward explanation of how private hire pricing works in Birmingham, what moves the number up and down, and what you should expect to be included before you commit.

How restaurant private hire is actually priced

Most Birmingham restaurants use one of three models, or a combination of them. Understanding which one you are being quoted is the single most useful thing you can do before comparing venues.

Minimum spend

This is the most common model. The venue commits the space to you exclusively, and you commit to spending a set amount across food and drink. There is no separate charge for the room itself.

The important detail is that a minimum spend is not an extra cost. It is money you were going to spend on feeding and watering your guests anyway. If your minimum spend is £2,000 and your group of 40 eats and drinks £2,100 worth, you pay £2,100 and the room was effectively free. If they only reach £1,700, you pay the £2,000 shortfall.

This model suits groups who intend to eat a full meal and drink through the evening. It works badly for short daytime events where guests will consume very little.

Room hire fee

A fixed charge for the space, with food and drink billed on top. You will see this more often for daytime events, meetings and drinks receptions, where consumption is unpredictable and the venue needs to cover the cost of closing a section of the restaurant.

Per head packages

A set price per guest covering an agreed menu, sometimes with a drinks element included. This is the easiest model to budget against because the maths is obvious, and it is the one most venues will quote for Christmas parties and set-menu corporate dinners.

As a working reference, our own banqueting menus run from £34.95 per person across three set options, which gives you a firm food cost to build a budget around before drinks are added.

Which is cheapest?

None of them, reliably. A £1,500 minimum spend and a £500 room hire fee can end up costing you exactly the same once food and drink are on the bill. Always ask the venue to convert their quote into a realistic total for your guest number before you compare.

What moves the price

Day of the week. This is the biggest single lever. A Saturday evening in December and a Tuesday evening in February are entirely different propositions for a venue, because one displaces a full book of covers and the other does not. Midweek events are consistently better value, often substantially so.

Midweek also tends to be underrated by organisers, who assume a Tuesday or Thursday will feel flat. In practice it rarely does.

“Thursday night was absolutely magnificent, we’ve had nothing but brilliant reports, plenty of tasty food, lots of drinks and the service was amazing. The team did a sterling job, honestly.”

Time of year. November and December carry a premium across every venue in the city. If your event has no fixed date, moving it into January or February will save you a meaningful amount. Conversely, if you need a December Saturday, book it in summer. Our festive menus and Christmas booking information go live ahead of each season.

Which space you take. Hiring a semi-private area of a restaurant costs far less than taking the whole venue exclusively. Be honest about whether you actually need total exclusivity or whether a defined section with your own service team will do the job.

Guest numbers. Counter-intuitively, a larger group often reduces the cost per head, because the minimum spend is spread across more people. A group of 60 will usually clear a minimum spend comfortably. A group of 20 trying to clear the same figure will feel it.

Food format. Canapés cost less per head than a three-course set menu, which costs less than a banqueting spread. Buffets sit somewhere in the middle and suit larger, more informal groups.

Drinks arrangement. An open bar tab is the largest and least predictable line in any event budget. Arrival drinks plus wine on the tables, with a cash bar afterwards, gives you a ceiling. A tab with an agreed limit gives you a harder one.

Typical Birmingham price ranges

Across venue booking platforms, the average minimum spend for a private dining space in Birmingham sits in the region of £800 per event, though that figure covers everything from a room for 14 people to a full restaurant takeover. Semi-private areas within a restaurant typically start lower. Exclusive hire of an entire city centre venue sits considerably higher.

Treat any published range as a starting point rather than a quote. Two venues with identical capacities can differ by a factor of three depending on location, day and what is bundled in.

What is usually included, and what is not

Ask about every item on this list before you sign anything. The gap between venues is rarely in the headline number and almost always in this section.

Normally included: the space, your service team, table linen and standard place settings, and in most cases a dedicated event coordinator to run the planning with you.

Sometimes included: a private bar, background music or an aux connection, basic AV such as a screen and projector, and cloakroom facilities.

Usually extra: DJs and live entertainment, floral arrangements and styling, printed menus, cakeage if you bring your own cake, and any late licence extension beyond the venue’s standard closing time.

Check carefully: whether quoted prices include VAT, and whether a service charge is added to the final bill. A quote that looks 15 per cent cheaper often is not.

Two points worth understanding here. First, restaurants must charge VAT on everything eaten on the premises, which HMRC sets out in its guidance on VAT rates for goods and services. At the standard rate that is a fifth of your bill, so a quote given excluding VAT is not comparable to one given including it.

Second, since the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 came into force in October 2024, service charges must be passed on to staff in full without deductions. Acas explains the rules in its guidance on tips and service charges. It is a genuine cost line on your event, not an optional extra the venue keeps, so build it into your figure from the start.

Deposits and payment terms

Expect to pay a deposit to secure the date, commonly a percentage of the minimum spend, with the balance due shortly before the event. Terms of around 50 per cent up front and the remainder seven days before are typical in Birmingham.

Read the cancellation terms properly. Deposits for private hire are frequently non-refundable, and the closer to the date you cancel, the more you are likely to owe. If your guest numbers are uncertain, ask when the final number has to be confirmed and what happens if it drops.

Working out your real budget

A quick method that gets you close:

1. Take your guest number.
2. Add your food cost per head for the format you want.
3. Add a realistic drinks figure per head. For an evening event with arrival drinks and wine, budget generously here rather than optimistically.
4. Multiply out, then add service charge and VAT if they are not already included.
5. Compare that total against the venue’s minimum spend. If your total comfortably exceeds it, the minimum spend is not a real constraint and you should stop worrying about it.

That last step is where most organisers relax. The minimum spend that sounded alarming in the first email usually turns out to be a number your group was always going to pass.

A worked example. Take a group of 40 on a set banqueting menu at £34.95 per person. That is £1,398 on food alone before anyone has had a drink. Add a conservative £25 per head across arrival drinks and wine, and you are at £2,398. Add service charge and you are near £2,700. A minimum spend that looked like a hurdle at the enquiry stage has already been cleared twice over by a fairly ordinary evening.

The organisers who get caught out are almost always running smaller groups, or daytime events where guests drink little. If that is you, ask specifically about a room hire fee instead.

Private hire at Siamais

Siamais sits in Oozells Square in Brindleyplace, a few minutes’ walk from the ICC, Symphony Hall and Broad Street, and close to both New Street and Five Ways stations.

The venue is built around a dual layout, with a distinct bar and restaurant, which makes it flexible for events that need both a standing reception and a seated dinner. There is also a covered and heated outdoor terrace, which extends the useful season well beyond the summer.

Catering formats

Canapés for drinks receptions, set three-course menus for seated dinners, and buffet or banqueting options for larger and more informal groups. Menus are built around the same Thai kitchen as the à la carte offer, with dietary requirements agreed in advance rather than on the night. Drinks packages are built from the same cocktail and wine list served in the bar.

Food is where most corporate events either land or fall flat, particularly with a group that eats out often.

“A huge thank you to you and the team for looking after our group this evening. The team loved everything about Siamais, everything was perfect. Our CEO absolutely loved the food, as did the rest of the team. It was the best Thai green curry I’ve had in years.”

Frequently asked questions

Is there a minimum number of guests for private hire in Birmingham?

It varies by venue and by space. Semi-private areas within a restaurant can often take groups from around 15 to 20, while exclusive hire of a full venue generally needs a considerably larger number to be viable.

How far in advance should I book?

For a December date, book by late summer. For the rest of the year, six to eight weeks is comfortable for most groups, though popular Saturday evenings go earlier.

Can I bring my own decorations or entertainment?

Most venues allow it within reason. Check restrictions on anything involving open flames, adhesives on walls, or amplified sound after a certain hour.

Do I have to hire the whole venue? No. Semi-private hire of a defined section is a common and much cheaper alternative, and for groups under around 50 it is often the better choice. Our venue hire page sets out the spaces available.

Is a service charge added on top of the minimum spend? This differs between venues, so ask directly. At some venues service charge counts towards the minimum spend, at others it does not.

What about allergies and dietary requirements? Agree these in advance rather than on the night. Our FAQs page covers the most common questions, and the events team will work through specific requirements with you before the menu is confirmed.