Why shouldn't we? We have been lucky enough to work with some amazing distillers over the last year and built up really good positive relationships. We are now extending our services and offering customers 'Gin Tours of Wales'. We can offer anything from a 2-3 hour tour to an overnight stay visiting some amazing distilleries and seeing some breathtaking views along the way. All of our tours are customised to each party so we really can offer something unique to you. If you would like us to include some other alcohol tours in your visit please let us know. We have some amazing breweries in the area nd they would love to show off their goods too. Below we have included some examples for you but please get in touch to find out what we can offer you. Corporate clients are more than welcome!
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Here is a list of FAQs we receive. If you have any others please let us know.
Can our guests pay by card? Yes. We have card payment facilities, providing we can access WIFI at the venue or 3g signal we will be able to take card payments. Do you offer a 'free bar' facilities? Yes. We can offer a 'free bar' for the entire duration or just for a set amount of time, that's entirely up to you and how much you would like to spend. The price depends on what drinks you want us to serve. Champagne is more expensive than beer! Can we have Cocktails? Definitely! We are not mixologists, but we can serve cocktails. We offer a customised menu to wedding couples. These drinks can be served all day or just for a set time. It’s up to you to decide what you would like us to offer. Can you provide welcome drinks? Yes, we can. Please let us know what you would like, and we will happily provide a quote for you. Do you offer 'Mocktails'? We can provide a variety of Mocktails for your day. We can provide these as large jugs for refreshments for all or by the glass on the bar. Do you offer Children’s Activities? But we can recommend a company that does. Do you have the most amazing staff? Without a doubt!! They are awesome! Are you insured? We certainly are. All of our vehicles are fully insured, and we have Public Liability Insurance up to £10million. Are your bars clean? They are. We have been inspected and our bars have been given a 5-star hygiene rating. Do you need power or water? We will need an electric hook up. A normal plug socket will be fine. We will come with an extension cable to help us access the socket. We will not need continuous water although it would be handy if we can access a water supply before we start service. This will save us carrying the water. Do you wear a uniform? At all times our staff are smartly dressed in their shirt, tie and apron whilst serving drinks. Please note when we are setting up the bar, we will wear different clothes as we can get dirty. We will change before we serve you and your guests. Do you provide an alcohol licence? The owner is personal and premises licence holder. If the venue doesn't have a premise license, we can apply for a Temporary Event Notice (the licence needed to serve alcohol) for £21 on your behalf. For me, its either when I have the time of when I feel I need to share information.
Today, its to tell the world how amazing our month has been! It was only a month ago I updated the blog from prior to the summer. We had a brilliant summer and enjoyed getting out and meeting lots of new clients and colleagues. Over the winter we've been working hard to develop our relationships and turn them into business. This month we have certainly reaped our rewards. Back in February I received an email into my junk folder the name really made me look twice. As everyone knows you can't be too careful with phishing emails so I proceeded with caution. The following day I contacted the number I found on google and researched whether the email was genuine. It was, I had been contacted by British Vogue and was being asked if I wanted to advertise The Gin Tin Bar in their Bridal Advertorial. I was absolutely over the moon that such a prestigious magazine would allow me the space to promote my business. Bloody amazing!! And then the head kicked in...whilst my heart 100% wanted to go into the magazine the high costs would have a big impact on the business. Not only would it hit me financially, I had to consider what the advert would bring. After a great deal of thought and discussion I declined the offer, it came down to the question...'Do I really want to be towing the bar all over the UK every weekend?' The answer is No. Luckily the business is developing locally and therefore don't feel that a nationwide advert is appropriate for my business AT THIS TIME. Watch this space.....It was a tough decision but delighted to have been asked. Whilst the above decision was being pondered I was arranging my first wedding advert in 'Tiara Magazine' we have an advert and an additional piece in the current magazine, please take a look. We are in both the front and online version. I was lucky to have great guidance by the editor Tracey to ensure the correct information was shared. Please head over to www.tiaramagazine.co.uk to take a look. Its great seeing your business in such a high quality magazine. Two weeks ago G and I headed up to Liverpool to pick up the new bar, ooh she is so cute! The Drinks Tin, is smaller than the main bar, she is just 4m in length and is available for dry hire. It was so light towing an empty bar... The Drinks Tin has had a deep clean and is now awaiting her photo shoot. The debut appearance is next month at Tall John's House. A new bar means a new uniform. The Drinks Tin staff will wear black aprons with a grey tie. The staff will continue to be as professional and smart as they always have been. I cant wait to show her off! So what an amazing month? As we are approaching the end of our 11month in business and I'm reflecting on how much progress we have made and how pleased I am of our future bookings I am gleaming with pride of the success so far. The idea of the business has blossomed, it's a business that people want and it seems from our reviews that we are quite good at it. Fantastic, let's start setting further goals for this year! And then whilst casually checking my FB I saw I had been tagged in a post. Luckily I was with a friend who confirmed what I read. The Gin Tin Bar had been named a finalist for the Gin Bar of the year by The Welsh Bar and Pub Awards. Shock!!! Absolutely flabbergasted! I really couldn't believe that my bar was being considered in the same category as some of the most fantastic, established Gin Bars that I know. For those of you that live in South Wales you will know how fantastic some of the bars are... I really couldn't believe it. When I contacted the organisers it seemed that yet again they had emailed me and it had gone into my junk folder and I had dismissed the email. I will know thoroughly check my Junk folder!! So next month the winner is announced, ironically I am out with the bar the day of the awards ceremony. I truly feel humble to have been named a finalist within this category, for me our business has already won this year, it truly has been the most amazing end to the first year of The Gin Tin Bar. Who knows where we will be this time next year....but between now and then I will definitely be checking my junk folder..... Helen x Happy Valentine's Day....Its time to talk about my love - My business!
Our Summer 2019 was awesome! We attended a massive variety of events, see below some of the highlights, there are too many to mention individually but see below for some of the highlights. The diversity of events allowed us to learn quickly the demands of the bar. From dog shows to weddings, our bar was successful in our mission to exceed our clients expectations. Charity Events Its always great to get involved with local charities and we were given the opportunity to do this several times with local dog charities. We love dogs! Parking the bar in a muddy field whilst the rain hammers down is not everyones favourite past time but when you have a shelter for customers to stand under, the drinks continue to be poured. Community Events North Cardiff - you have been fantastic! I have received amazing support locally, local events are very well supported and have provided me with an opportunity to promote the bar for further business. Both our indoor and outdoor bars were utilised at community events, providing both drinks and bottle sales from West Wales to Gloucester, we don't mind travelling, that's the beauty of having a mobile bar. Weddings Our first wedding was amazing and will always be special to us at The Gin Tin, the couple were totally awesome, their family and friends made the best guests. On a very wet, torrential rain, road flooded weekend we managed to provide the guests with the best experience. Our Wedding service has moved forward quite considerably for 2020 read below... CAMRA Beer Festival We were the Gin Bar for the CAMRA Great Welsh Beer Festival. We had an awesome time at the event, a great group of people to work with, we are looking forward to returning to the new venue this year. House Parties Our Gin Parties have continued to grow, our smallest number has been 10 and very soon we are attempting our highest number of 40 guests next month. Its a good job I have a very loud voice to be heard over all those guests. Gifts A massive thank you to all that have and continue to purchase your alcohol and gifts from me, I really appreciate your continued support throughout the year. Our year has been so diverse, I have welcomed every opportunity given to me. Last year I built some great friendships through the business, and I am now reaping the benefits of those friendships with the volume of referrals I receive. 2020 'A nice quiet start to the year, a month or two of chilling before the summer begins...' How wrong was I?? That was my thought at Christmas, a bit of development before the summer starts. January has been my busiest month to date. I am so pleased to say its been busy with enquires and bookings. Bring it on! I totally understand the term 'engagement season' Business Developments for 2020 We have a number of developments for 2020. I am also spending time planning strategic development of the business we need to ensure we are heading in the right direction. Weddings We have been super lucky to be able to develop working relationships with the most main wedding venues in South Wales. This year we really will be hitting the weddings. We love weddings! Within our wedding service we offer a variety of options including pre-paid bars and cash sales. Such is the demand for our service we need to introduce our new bar - The Mini Tin. New Bar The Mini Tin is attending its first wedding on April 25th, I cant wait to show him off to the world. The new bar is focussing on 'dry hire' and is therefore an option for couples, venues and catering suppliers to have their own bar at any event. The bar can be hired on a daily rate. It can be offered with or without staff. The interest for the new bar is massive, watch this space..... Pop Up Bar We are currently in the process of having our new pop up bar created. The bar is being created to be as adaptable as possible to all service requirements. This bar can be used as part of a full wedding package or any event where we need the option of an indoor bar. The Trailer Never have I thought you could get so excited over a 'trailer', I love it! Why have I never had one before?? As G pointed out to me there was a time when I used to get excited over handbags, now its a trailer! Don't worry my birthday is coming, handbag excitement will resume!!! 2020 is looking busy, January has been manic, organising my calendar. Within one year I have gone from being chilled with the prospect of a new bar launch in the April 2019 to a 2020 where I'm managing two outdoor and one indoor bar with double bookings on a single day. Who knew I would become a logistics manager overnight? The success of the business is not solely down to me. Without the support of G this would never have become a reality. I have amazing friends who have supported, encouraged, provided advice and direction throughout the last 18 months, they have been awesome. Amongst the 'friends' there are some that have served as staff, I feel the success of the business is the staff, we have such fun whilst at work, the customers always comment on how friendly the staff are, without the staff the business would not have the reputation or the reviews that it does. A massive thanks to all of you that have helped in 2019, let's hope 2020 continues to let me live my dream. So watch this space, my last post was several months ago, who knows where we will be at the end of this summer. If you are interested in having us attend an event please get in touch I would love to hear from you. Happy Valentines Day Helen x Let me introduce you to the most Amazing Gin Bar ever... ![]() April was a very busy month for us here at The Gin Tin. We were luck enough to collect the bar from Liverpool on 13th April just before we went off on our travels to Morocco. The bar had its first outing at Sophia Gardens the week we returned before going back into storage whilst I disappeared on my cricket tour to La Manga...I really do love my job! Events So the bar has been out and about and I am really pleased to hear the positive comments that we are getting from all who see it. I now I'm biased but 'she' looks amazing! We have visited both Bridgend and Cardiff with events this month, some with the bar, some for us to do 'gin' tastings. Wherever I drive I get looks from other drivers, I like to think that's because of the amazing bar Im towing and not my lack of driving skills!! Both of the events this month have led to us receiving further bookings. This is fantastic! The Photo Shoot To truly show off the bar I felt it was necessary to have a professional photographer take some shots and oh my word was it worth it! The amazing www.kellydanielphotography.co.uk came along to the photoshoot and gave her professional expertise in preparing the perfect shots. Kelly your work on the day and in the editing was superb! Please note the amazing flowers in the photographs, this is the work of the amazing #janlima_flowers. Jan managed to arrive at the shoot having not seen the bar before and compliment the bar with her amazing work. Last but not least we were lucky to have Helen from www.themediterraneangrazingcompany.co.uk. Helen prepared a delicious grazing board for the side of the bar. Helen is able to offer her grazing boards for both small and large scale parties. Both the food and the presentation of it are outstanding. Plus a thank you to the stunning venue for their support. I highly recommend all three of these businesses for both their professional expertise and their amazing personalities!! Is the Tin full of Gin? Nearly...but it will be a constant challenge. I am still tasting lots of gins and Im sure this will always be the case but its nearly full for this summer. We also have some non Gin drinks in the bar... It was requested at one of the venues that I offer a full bar and not just gin. I had to go out of my comfort zone to source a variety of stock. My research took me as far as Bedwas and to the William Bros. One sip of their finest 'Splanky' and a box was bought. For those of you that have not had the pleasure you need to hunt down this drink. Along with ciders, bottled beers and plenty of gin we have a range of rum, whisky, wines and vodka onboard. Our tin is certainly looking full! Accreditation As with all food and drink businesses in Wales we had to gain the famous green sticker to let everyone know our Food Hygiene rating. I am very pleased to say we achieved a 5 star rating, this recognises our high hygiene standards that we adhere to in the bar. we are very proud to display our sticker in our window. Along with Food Hygiene we also had our visit from Trading Standards and again all went well with their visit. Summer The Summer is upon us...the bookings are looking really good. We have a wide variety of events lined up from small school summer fetes to large scale festivals and car rally's in Cardiff Bay. Without a doubt this summer is looking awesome! Please follow us on social media @thegintinbar to see where we are and what we are up to. Pop along and say hello to us if you do come to any of our events. If you would like us to come to an event of yours please do contact us either by telephone 07766724495 or email [email protected]. We can't wait to meet you. Helen @ The Gin Tin Bar xx I can't believe the last blog post was before Christmas. We have been very busy and made good progress in preparation for the summer ahead.
We started the new year developing relationships with our current business colleagues and creating new relationships both locally and across the UK. We are aiming to provide a strong, high quality selection of Gin within the bar and therefore need to be talking to the right people and undertaking the right research to offer this. Watch this space, the gins are on their way. Whilst we will offer internationally known gins, we are looking to support local craft distillers to raise their brand awareness. The bar is very nearly completed, images will be unveiled soon...... Staffing, we are in the process of meeting the amazingly talented staff that will be working on the bar. Friends have been awesome and volunteered their support but over the summer I will need to be employing others. They will be in the bar images in the future. At the moment we are confirming our events for this summer, we have focussed on the local area for this year but who knows where we may end up. Follow us on Facebook @thegintinbar for regular updates about our whereabouts. If you see us, come and say hello! The Gin Tin Gifts We have been granted a premises licence (Woohoo!) so we are now able to sell our gifts online at all times. Prior to having the licence gifts had to be sold at events, now we are able to take orders and payments online from our customers. Please get in touch if you need a gift. We can customise any gift to an alcohol of your choice. Our gifts start from £5 upwards. The average price is £35-40. Please see our FB page to read the amazing reviews we have had about gifts. Who wouldn't love a Gin gift??? Our Easter gifts will be launched later this week. Pop Up Bars Our 'pop up' bars at small events are becoming very popular. If you're having a group of friends for a get together and would like a Gin Bar, get in touch. We can offer parties from 8 people upwards. We come with everything apart from a kitchen sink!! Our 'pop up' bar can either be operated like a normal bar service or we can price per head for a set amount of drinks. We can tailor the drinks to match your needs. We supply what you want! BBC Radio - Good Evening Wales Last Friday I was invited to the Good Evening Wales show to talk about the growth of then industry and the change in demographics. As I said on the programme, ' I really do think there is a gin drink out there for everyone'. If you haven't found yours yet, come and find me and I will help you find your 'Gin'. We are all really excited to be revealing images of the bar in the next few weeks and are really excited to show it off at all of our events. If you would like us at your event, please contact us at [email protected], if you see us out and about come and say hello! The future of The Gin Tin is looking awesome, I am already working on further business ideas to be launched after the busy summer season, watch this space for news late September. Look forward to meeting you all this summer Helen @ The Gin Tin Bar xx Well its less than two weeks to go until Christmas Day and our elves have been very busy making up our remaining orders for the Gin Gift Sets. My house is feeling very festive this year, I have gone beyond the elegance of nice trees and lights we have straw everywhere thanks to the gift sets!! It seems every day more straw appears, in every Christmas gift I have wrapped there is evidence of straw. I really have taken the festive theme to a new level creating a stable in my house !! Christmas Fayre's We had a great time visiting all of the Christmas Fayre's, with one to go its easy for me to regard them as a success. Its been great to advertise the business and let people know who we are and also be able to offer a variety of drinks to bring new ideas to peoples gin drinking. We've made many friends at the events and hopefully have formed future business partnerships whilst doing so. It was great to meet everyone! We have just one Faure left this Sunday at the depot, for this event we will not be offering the full bar service although we will be offering our gift sets and individual bottles of gin. If you're in the are come and say hello, there are some amazing business at this event. Finish...or start your Christmas shopping at the Depot this Sunday. Business Development The word is definitely out that the Gin Tin is about. We've had a great interest from a number of distillers that are interested in working with us in a variety of ways, potentially some very exciting times ahead. Unfortunately some of the discussions are still confidential but will be shouted from the roof-tops should they materialise. Watch this space! Since announcing the business there has been a massive amount of support from friends and old work colleagues, its truly appreciated. I loved being told by a potential customer that they were in a hairdressers having their hair done discussing with their hair stylist that they were contacting me and another member of staff piped up to say The Gin Tin was her friends business. I loved being the gossip of the salon!! We have had more enquiries for events next year and a few confirmed bookings, hopefully by the end of January we will have next year all wrapped. If you are considering a date get in touch soon, there are pencilled dates in my diary, first one to make a deposit will secure the date. So, roll on Christmas, The Gin Tin has had a great start so far, we are already above the expected target that was set, now lets move on to exceeding the first quarter of next year! Woohoo for The Gin Tin!! Merry Christmas to all, thank you to everyone for your support, it is all very much appreciated. Helen Really, are we here already!! The Gin Tin has made great progress since the last post. We have made lots of new friends in both a professional and a social context, it has been awesome. Its amazing how many wonderful, supportive people there are in 'my new world'. We have attended more wedding fayre's, we have been invited to bridal events at wedding shops and whilst there have had great fun surrounded by very talented people. Luckily the staff that work in The Gin Tin are very friendly and go out of their way to make friends with both customers and other traders. WE are happy to work with everyone! Thank you to all those people that we have met, you have made us feel very welcome in our new industry! Back in September I attended the Street Food Traders exhibition in the Excel with my good friend Rebecca (thanks for your support Bec) whilst the day was interesting I left feeling that my bar was going to look far better than anything I saw on the day, thanks to the design work of the talented 'Customiser'. The bar is looking AWESOME, thanks to the hugely talented Ian. The work that is going into the bar is something very special I am so lucky to be working with someone so knowledgeable and hugely talented. I really can't wait for the day I collect it and show it off to the world......Even though I already have ideas about the next bar I would like Ian to work on..... ![]() So with the bar under way, exhibition events planned we have now moved on to confirming bookings for our pop up events to get the brand out there before next year.
We will be attending a number of Christmas Fayre's across South Wales offering customers samples of gin and the opportunity to buy Gin by the bottle and in a Gift Hamper. Orders will be taken and delivered by mid December. We are attending a Christmas Market from Friday 23rd November, here we are focussing on hot drinks. We will be offering; Hot Gin and Ginger, Bourbon Espresso's, Rum and Hot Chocolate and Vodka with Apple tea and Cinnamon. We anticipate these drinks to be very welcome in the colder climate and look forward to promoting our brand and meeting more people in the South Wales area. Last week whist developing future business I accidentally contacted an old friend of 20+ years ago, turns out this person is an excellent contact. Fond memories of working together were reminisced and a warm glow thinking of how someone from so far past can be so kind and helpful in the future. Thank you MW. Not only have we been developing potential business we have not neglected the professionalism of the business. A number of courses have been attended over the last few months, who knew GDPR could be so interesting?? It does seem like I am on my own with the enthusiasm I have for GDPR but it was totally interesting. I guess it really does depend on the delivery! An excellent workshop delivered by Superfast Business Wales. Last week I attended a Social Media course (look out for the changes), a great course showing the huge potential of Social Media with the business. Lots of really nice people on the course and some great ideas put forward. A few changes are going tome made and an additional presence on Linked In is needed to develop the business into the corporate market. SO many exciting things to do! So, whats this current plan......
Onwards and Upwards with The Gin Tin The Gin Tin attended its first wedding fair on the 02/09/18 and what a reception we had. We had an amazing first event! I decided to design a Gin garden within the Motorpoint Arena that included artificial grass, trellis and a Gin Fountain. It may have been a bit ambitious but I felt start as you mean to go on and go beyond peoples expectations. To all of our visitors, thank you for coming to meet us, whilst understandably the business giving away free gin was going to be popular, we did have many enquiries. All of the other traders made us feel very welcome and encouraging as to the future success of The Gin Tin. Thanks to all, particularly the wonderful Mr G and Katy D who helped me set up and run the Wedding Fair. xx Progress - Mid September 2018Well we are certainly making progress. Hoorah! We have been busy researching vehicles and tins to find the most suitable options. Still to finalise the decision. Ive thoroughly enjoyed talking with suppliers and local distillery's to look at the types of Gins we want to be promoting in 'The Gin Tin'. Such a vast choice. There are worse ways of spending your days rather than discussing and sampling Gin! So progress so far...... we have Gin and Tonic supplies, we have options for drink holders, we are finalising the designs on the vehicle and promotional material is in place. What next? Over the next few weeks we will start Pop Up Bars to find out from our customers the type of Gin that you are drinking. The popular choices can then become a staple in The Gin Tin. We will be offering a small collection of Gin cocktails, yet again another chore of a job that I will need to do, isn't that a difficult task? I'm quite sure that my trusted friends will help me with the tasting and provide good quality feedback. All tasting sessions will be posted on our You Tube Channel for all to see, watch this space. Thanks for reading I will update when further progress is made. Helen x The Gin Tin Story - 01/09/18My name is Helen I am the business owner of The Gin Tin Mobile Bar. Welcome to my Blog!
How did we get where we are? Well to be honest the business has been launched for a better work life balance. We all have that feeling when working the 9-5 that there must be more to life than this, we all want that bit of excitement and the feeling that we do something that we enjoy. Hence 'The Gin Tin'! After many years of 'thorough research' I decided to focus on Gin. Following over 20 years of 'research' I thought I despised the distilled junipers, every time I smelt the drink it made me feel ill, that was until one day...... My other passion in life is travelling. So picture this, I was sat on the terrace of this lovely hotel in Delhi, surrounded by the 'very English patrons' when the waiter came over and asked what I wanted to drink. After some thought of being sensible, not letting myself get too dehydrated I opted for an Indian Beer. This wasn't what I really wanted but it would do. My drink came and I forced myself to drink it whilst I admired the beauty around me. Then came the arrival of the guests sitting on the next table, not being happy with my personal choice I listened to what they may be 'researching'. There it was a Gin and Tonic!! I was so envious of their choice, I couldn't think of a better location to convert myself to the famous tipple. So, in the name of 'research' I ordered myself a house Gin and Tonic. Was that the drink I wanted, was that the elegant taste that I admired fellow patrons drinking?? No it was bloody awful!!! I had not changed my mind, I still struggled with the taste, but this time I felt I didn't want to be a failure and so I soldiered on to drink the G and T. This was followed by another, followed by another and the 'research' continues today...... Through more intense 'research' I began to detect what my preferred style of Gin was, how to identify my likes and build upon those to enjoy one of the most varied drinks available on the market. Even though I have done many hours of 'research' I would never consider myself a 'Gin expert' but I will always consider myself a 'Gin enthusiast'. I'd like to pass on my passion for the discovery of 'new gins' to other 'researchers' therefore I have created the 'Gin Tin'. The Gin Tin can be hired for any event. I have already had enquiries for bookings in 2019 and the business isn't even launched yet. Where am I now? I am waiting for the 'tin' to be converted. I am in discussions with Gin suppliers to review the gins that will be available. My Social media is set up and Im ready to confirm further bookings for late 2018 and 2019. Please get in touch if you would like to experience 'The Gin Tin', all of my media contacts are available on the website. I have been very lucky to have been supported to get this far by Mr G himself and my amazing friends and family who are not only offering to carry out 'research' with me but are willing to support the business by working alongside me at events. My friends and Mr G have been awesome!!! So that gives a rough guide to how I got here and where I am. Please continue to follow my journey of launching and developing the business, Im sure there are going to be some exciting times ahead. H x |