Frequently Asked Questions about Gala Tent Marquees & Gazebos
Your Questions, Our Expertise—Everything You Need to Know About Gala Tent!
At Gala Tent, we understand that investing in a marquee or gazebo requires careful consideration, which is why our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section is designed to provide all the answers you need. Whether you're curious about the durability of our PVC materials, the ease of setting up our pop-up gazebos, or the warranties we offer, this page has you covered. Learn about customisation options, maintenance tips, delivery times, and more, directly from the experts. We believe that an informed customer is a confident customer, so we've compiled everything in one place to make your experience smooth and hassle-free. If you're still unsure or have specific queries, our friendly support team is always on hand to help. Discover why Gala Tent is the UK’s leading supplier of premium event tents and gazebos!
Your Questions, Our Expertise—Everything You Need to Know About Gala Tent!
Choosing the correct tent for your event or business is very important, but how do you know which one will do the job for you? Here at Gala Tent, we have a team of experts who will work with you to discover which is best for your requirements, but if you’re unable to give us a call then these tips should help you to make your choice.
Size Matters
If you’re planning on hosting dozens of guests then you will need either a larger structure, or lots of smaller ones. A Marquee is generally the best way to achieve this, and Gala Tent Marquees are not only available up to a massive 9m x 30m, but they are designed to be expandable, so if you need to cover a space larger than this, simply take more than one marquee and use the Gala Tent Gutter Kit to ensure your event is fully protected from any rain.
If you only have a small space in which to work, or you would prefer a brighter coloured tent, then con-sider a Gala Shade Pop-Up Gazebo. They are available up to 4m x 8m and are available in twelve differ-ent colours.
Time is of the Essence
A big difference between the Gala Shade Pop-Up Gazebos and the Gala Tent Marquees is the time taken to erect them.
Our gazebo range is designed for simple deployment in a matter of minutes, saving you valuable time to set up your stock, or your event. The smaller sizes can often be erected by one person, although for Health and Safety purposes, we recommend at least two people, which can reduce the potential for injury.
Marquees are a larger task to erect, with a team of people required to put up the largest sizes, but what you lose in time you make up for in sheer elegance of the structure, and the cost per square metre of a Marquee is often much lower than that of the more convenient Gazebo.
Customisation
What is the intended purpose of the tent? If you are looking to use it as a shop front for your business, then you may be looking to customise it to reflect exactly which service or product you supply. If so, the Gala Shade Pop-Up Gazebo can be fully customised to your exact requirements, with our expert design team available to work with you to create your dream shop front. Whether it’s a simple logo and contact details on the front, or a multi-coloured treat for the eyes, the only limit is your imagination with a branded Gazebo.
Marquees are more limited in their branding options, but customisation is still possible, on the end walls above the doorway, so don’t lose those dreams of having a beautiful marquee that’s unique to your operation.
Colour
Our Gala Tent Marquees are generally only available in the classic white tone, so if you have aspirations of creating a colour scheme in your set-up then the Gala Shade Pop-Up Gazebo is the one for you.
Each of our range of Gala Shade tents is available in a variety of twelve stock colours, with matching sidewalls available for each. Want to mix and match the canopy and sidewall colours? Then it’s absolute-ly possible with the Gala Shade Gazebo.
We understand that selecting the correct model can be the most difficult decision, as the differences between some of our gazebos can often be subtle, and other differences pretty obvious. So here is a handy guide to each model of gazebo that can help you to make your decision.
Pro MX
This is our entry level gazebo, but research suggests that it is heavier and stronger than many of our competitors’ mid-range and sometimes top-of-the-range gazebos. Manufactured using powder-coated steel, with 32mm square legs and hammer tested nylon joints and fixings, the Pro MX is a fantastic low cost, high value-for-money tent that is ideal for home and garden use, or for low to moderate commercial use.
Pro 40
The first of our aluminium constructed tents, the Pro 40 is a lightweight but commercial quality pop-up gazebo. The legs are hexagonal shaped, which make them much more difficult to bend or break than a square legged version, and 40mm in width. The Pro 40 also includes a peak-pole spring, which acts almost as suspension against the wind, allowing the tent to sway as opposed to standing rigid and putting strain on the roof section or legs. This tent is ideal for home and garden use, or for moderate to high commercial use.
Pro 40 Compact
Designed and developed after receiving feedback from our many clients that there were very few pop-up tents on the market that could fit easily into a small to medium car, as opposed to requiring a large car or van to transport the gazebo. The Pro 40 Compact offers all of the strength and versatility of its larger sister product, but folds down to an ultra-compact and space saving 105cm, which is small enough to fit into the boot of most cars. If you need your vehicle to hold more stock than gazebo, then the Pro 40 Compact is the one for you.
Pro 50
Not only the strongest Pop-Up Gazebo in our range, but undoubtedly the strongest model currently available on the UK market. The Pro 50 is so strong that dozens of the country’s councils and market operators are removing the old style of framed market stalls and replacing them with this much more transportable tent. All of the joints and fixings are manufactured using profile aluminium, as opposed to the much more brittle cast alloy that may be found on other pop-up tents, and the tent comes with an industry leading five year warranty, which shows the supreme confidence that we have in this tent being ideal not just for heavy and regular commercial use, but also for a number of purposes within motorsport and other outdoor activities.
Our Gala Tent Marquees use the same heavy-duty galvanised steel framework across the two versions, with the main difference being the material we use in the covers. Which one is best for you will depend on budget and what you intend to use it for.
PE
Our PE Marquees have galvanised steel framework made up of 38mm or 42mm poles, depending on the width of the tent, and 240gsm Polyethylene (PE) covers. PE is a strong, coated tarpaulin-like material that is lightweight but durable, and performs incredibly well in the rain. The walls and end panels connect to one another with industrial zips, to ensure the structure is fully enclosed. PE Marquees make the ideal home party tent, or can be used in any commercial environment. They are ideal for most budgets, and offer unrivalled value-for-money.
PVC
An industry leading 650gsm PVC makes up the covers of this luxurious top-of-the-range Marquee. The covers can be wiped clean easily, with sidewalls and end panels that connect to one another with thick Velcro and Dutch lacing. The reason we use this way of connecting them is that the PVC is so robust that most zips are not strong enough to work well with it. If you’re shopping around, bear in mind that any PVC tent that has zips for connecting the walls and end panels together will either use a thinner, lower quality PVC, or if not, you may find yourself having fault issues down the line. This tent is ideal for events such as weddings, corporate gatherings, or beer festival, and comes with a warranty of three years on the covers.
Gala Tent Fusion
The Fusion is a Clearspan Modular Marquee, available in 6m or 9m wide. They are used for events such as beer festivals and agricultural shows where there is a high footfall and a need to host hundreds of guests. The modular design allows the user to amend the size of the tent according to the needs of the individual event, and we supply additional 3m long bays separately, which enable you to extend to potentially limitless lengths. This is ideal for very large events, or semi-permanent use.
No, you do not need to create an account to place an order with Gala Tent, but doing so will enable you to order effortlessly when you require any additional items such as extra weights, sidewalls, or more tents.
We would be more than happy to provide you with a copy of any of our brochures. At Gala Tent, we acknowledge that our products are perfect for many different industry sectors, so we have a series of industry specific brochures, which can be found (here). If you’d prefer a hard copy to share with your colleagues or family, then call 01709 242454 to request one from the team, or click here to make an online request.
If you have not yet reached the checkout stage of your order, you can easily amend your basket and continue as you wish. If your order has already been processed and paid for in the past few hours, we recommend that you contact our customer services team on 01709 242454 to speak with one of our experts, and if it is possible to halt the shipping process we will try to assist with amending the order as best we can.
The simplest way is to check the email sent to you by Gala Tent which will notify you of your order’s progress. This email will contain contact details of the carrier that is transporting your parcel(s). You may give the carrier a call to get an estimated time of arrival if they are able to provide it. If you have not received an email, or if you placed your order by telephone and did not provide your email address, then please contact our customer services team on 01709 242454 and they will be best placed to locate any tracking details.
First off, please do not worry. Online orders may take a short while to be transferred by our systems onto the back-office order platform that our sales team work with. Please DO NOT resubmit your order, as you may end up paying twice and on occasion, receiving two shipments. If your order was placed more than twenty four hours prior to your call to our sales team and you have still not received an email confirmation, please give our team a call on 01709 242454 or email us here and we will investigate you query immediately.
Gala Tent and our subsidiary brands accept various methods of payment to make your ordering as convenient as possible. These methods are:
- Credit and Debit Cards via our SOTpay payment platform. SOTpay is a secure process which was developed to keep your card details completely private, whether paying via telephone, online, or via our social media channels. We do not accept Amex or Diner's Club cards at present. You can find further information on this service here. Open Banking and Bank Transfer.
- Open Banking is completed via our SOTpay platform, which will send a payment request to your banking app on your smartphone that you simply need to approve. Alternatively, we can send our bank details to you for you to complete a traditional BACS payment.
- Cheque. If your organisation uses cheque as a method of payment, we can and will accept this. Once the cheque has been received at our offices, it will be banked on a Friday and the goods will be dispatched upon clearance of the cheque the following week.
Yes, as we serve both business and consumer clients, our prices are inclusive of VAT, so there are no surprise, hidden costs along the way.
VAT, or Value Added Tax, is a statutory tax in the UK and throughout Europe. The rate of taxation in the UK is currently 20%. Overseas clients within the EU may contact us to discuss removing the tax at the point of order, if a VAT registration number for your territory can be provided. Clients outside of the EU would usually have VAT removed at the point of order, if Gala Tent arranges the delivery. If you wish to arrange your own delivery, then please get in touch to discuss this on (+44)1709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk
Yes, all orders will generate a VAT invoice, which you can print off and store for your company accounting records. If you have misplaced your invoice, simply give us a call on 01709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk to request a copy of it.
We can certainly look to negotiate discounted rates if you need several tents, and each discounted order would be assessed on an individual basis, so we recommend either calling 01709 242454 or emailing sales@galatent.co.uk to discuss your requirements with the team, who will be more than happy to assist with your large order.
Yes we do. If you feel you have seen a like-for-like product elsewhere for cheaper, we would ask that you always give us a call and allow us the opportunity to match or beat that price. You can get in touch by calling 01709 242454 or emailing sales@galatent.co.uk
We do not usually offer an invoicing credit facility, and all orders must be paid for in full via the payment methods we accept before we ship them. There are certain exceptions to this, and we would request that you give us a call on 01709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk to discuss this with our expert team.
Gala Tent offer FREE delivery on the majority of orders placed with us, with the exception of any order that is less than £100. In these instances, there is a very reasonable £9.98 packing and handling charge. If you are based overseas, or in difficult to access locations within the UK, there may be a carriage charge which we cannot avoid.
Any dispatch of products on a pallet that the courier is unable to deliver due to there being nobody to accept the shipment will incur a £70 re-delivery fee, which must be paid before a re-attempt to deliver your order is made, so it is in your best interests to ensure you are available to accept delivery at the first attempt. You will be notified by email when your order is dispatched if the goods are being delivered on a pallet.
If you are unsure whether you might qualify for a free delivery, then please give our sales team a call on 01709 242454 or drop us an email and our experts can help.
It really depends on the day or the time of day that you order, but more often than not, yes. We offer NEXT WORKING DAY delivery on the majority of orders placed before 4pm, with the exception of offshore or hard to reach UK locations. For orders of in-stock items to UK mainland addresses, the following would apply:
Order before 4pm Monday to Thursday: Delivery on the follow week day.
Order before 4pm on Friday: Delivery on Monday
Order between 4pm on Friday and 4pm on the following Monday: Delivery on Tuesday
You can of course make a request for a specific day that is convenient for you, and we will ensure we do not deliver until that day.
As a standard delivery option, we do not offer weekend deliveries. However, we are able to offer a pre-noon slot for a Saturday delivery if this is when it is most convenient to receive the order. There would be a £24.99 surcharge for this service.
We certainly do offer international shipping. The quickest and easiest way to receive a quote for international orders is to give us a call on (+44)1709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk and our expert sales team will provide you with an accurate delivery price. They will need to know which items you are considering, and your full shipping address.
You are most welcome to select a different day for your delivery, but because we offer completely free delivery on orders over £100, selecting a time slot is not strictly possible and it is an all day call. You may, however, choose to pay a small surcharge to receive your order in the morning, which will enable you to plan the rest of your day. If you wish to discuss this then give our team a call on 01709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk and our experts can help.
We don’t want you to miss your delivery, so our first advice would be to place your order for when you know you’ll be free to accept the goods, but we understand that this isn’t always possible. The courier will leave a card to say they have attempted your Gala Tent delivery, and this card should have contact details for making new arrangements.
Many of our large products are dispatched on pallets for making the delivery as easy as possible for you. Please help us to help you by being available to accept delivery at the first attempt. Redelivery of palletised products is a very expensive endeavour, and you will be liable for any additional charges imposed by the courier if you are not available to accept the delivery at the first attempt. This fee is a set £70 per subsequent attempt. You will be notified by email when the goods are dispatched if the shipment is sent on a pallet, so that you can make the necessary arrangements.
In certain circumstances, we may be able to redirect the order to a new address. Be aware that this may incur additional charges for the benefit, which will be calculated on an individual case basis.
In most cases, yes you may have the goods delivered to any address you wish. Our fraud preventing SOTpay payment system allows you to choose to have your goods delivered anywhere, and paying by bank transfer also allows for any delivery address of your choosing.
Of course. You may collect your order from our offices between 9am and 4:30pm on any week day when our Distribution Centre team are available to assist. If you wish to collect outside of these hours, but within the opening hours of our sales office then you may do so, but please give us prior notice, so that we can ensure your goods are ready for collection. You can call the sales team on 01709 242454 if this is your wish.
The time taken to put up a marquee will depend entirely on its size, and the number of people you have to assist with putting it up. This time will also come down with each time you do it, as practice makes perfect. However, the times below should give you a good idea, and enable you to plan your event much more effectively.
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
Full instructions for erecting your Gala Tent Marquee can be found here, or you may give our team a call on 01709 242454 for further assistance, if needed.
Gala Shade Gazebos have been designed to allow for almost instant deployment, with the frame arriving fully assembled. There may be optional extras such as sidewalls, ground bars or weights that may mean it can take up to around twenty minutes, but in terms of the frame and canopy, you should be perfectly able to erect the gazebo in less than five minutes, which gives you much more time to prepare for your event.
For Health and Safety reasons, we recommend at least two people working together to erect a Marquee of any size.
You may be more than capable of erecting a Gazebo alone, especially with a smaller sized tent, but again to avoid any potential for causing injury, we recommend that two people work together to get the tent up effectively.
There is specific guidance on the number of recommended hands for building a Gala Tent product within the individual instruction manuals, which can be found here. There are also videos of our team erecting marquees on the individual product pages and our YouTube channel.
Ground Bars are an optional extra to assist with the structural integrity of your tent, whether it’s a Gala Tent Marquee or Gala Shade Gazebo, and have more than one benefit to use.
Ground Bars run along the bottom of the structure, with fixings attached to each leg to ensure they remain in place. They enable the legs to remain at a 90 degree angle, which reduces the strain on your roof section, and allows the tent to sit much more level.
Ground Bars are also an excellent way of reducing potential flapping of the sidewalls in windy conditions, as in Gazebos the bar will run through a specifically designed sleeve on each sidewall, and pull the fabric of the walls taut. On a Gala Tent Marquee, there are a series of heavy duty eyelets, which enable you to attach the base of the wall to your ground bars, effectively enclosing the lower half of the tent and reduce any wind-related damage to your structure. Essentially, Ground Bars are a highly recommended addition to your Gala Tent product.
The options are weights or tie-downs with heavy-duty pegs, depending on whether you’ll be erecting your tent on soft or hard ground (or indeed both). We absolutely recommend that you secure your tent to the ground with something, as we have been in the business long enough to know that whilst it may not be a windy day, it only takes one well-placed gust of wind to lift a huge structure.
On soft ground, the ideal anchorage would be the Tie-Down Storm Kits, which are available in double packs, and we recommend one per leg. They are a discreet and effective solution to securing your tent to the ground.
It is a little trickier on hard standing ground, as it is very rare that there will be pegs available in the ground to hook your tent to, so we have three options available.
13kg Cast Iron Weights – Sold in pairs (ideal for gazebos)
10kg Leg Weight Bags – Sold in pairs (ideal for gazebos)
50kg Water Weight Bags – Sold individually (ideal for both gazebos and marquees)
If you’re unsure of how many you’ll need, then please give our expert team a call on 01709 242454 to discuss your requirements and they’ll be more than happy to assist with your event.
Customer feedback received over the past twenty years suggests that a Gala Tent Marquee will withstand winds of around 30mph (approx 50kph) when anchored correctly.
Gala Tent Fusion Marquees are manufactured using solid aluminium extrusions, and when anchored well can withstand winds of around 50mph (80kph).
Gala Shade Gazebos will take winds of up to around 30mph also, when anchored well.
It is important when putting up a marquee or gazebo in the wind to use common sense, and it is your own responsibility to gauge whether it is safe to put up your tent in adverse weather conditions or not. We recommend that if there is any doubt at all that you should take down the tent in the evening and do not leave out overnight, as the weather can be very unpredictable.
All Gala Tent covers are indeed waterproof, in terms of the weather. Testing suggests that our covers have a hydrostatic head of 6000, which makes them very highly water resistant.
Some water may appear on the inside, especially in cold weather, which will be condensation. This may be worse on soft ground, where the moisture will lift from the grass beneath your feet overnight, but this is impossible to counter without the assistance of a dehumidifier. You can rest assured though that it will not degrade the material if you allow the covers to dry properly before you pack the tent away until your next event.
Over time as your covers age, you may discover some water is able to penetrate the covers through the seams. We supply a very effective seam sealant to combat this, which you can purchase here, or alternatively give our team a call on 01709 242454 to discuss your requirements and they will be more than happy to assist.
You certainly can. At Gala Tent, we have a full range of spare parts available for our various types of structure. In fact, it’s fair to say that from the spares we supply, you could build an entire new structure from scratch, so don’t worry if you experience any accidental or weather damage. You can find spares here, or feel free to give us a call on 01709 242454 to discuss your requirements with the team, who will be more than equipped to assist.
We receive countless enquiries from frustrated people who have been unable to secure spare parts, such as sidewalls, canopies, joints or poles, for tents that they have purchased elsewhere. As many of our products are exclusively developed for Gala Tent and are covered by exclusive patents, we are unable to guarantee that any of our spare parts will be compatible with any other supplier product. If you are unable to source those spare parts, we recommend that you give our team a call on 01709 242454 to discuss replacing your tent with a Gala Tent, where you know you will not have that problem in the future.
Whilst it IS possible to do this, and many of our clients are happy to pack the tent away with the canopy still fitted, we strongly recommend that you remove it and fold it away securely to prolong the lifespan of the covers. Leaving the covers on the tent is done so entirely at your own risk, and any damages caused by doing so will not be covered by warranty. If you are unsure of anything here please don’t hesitate to give our team a call on 01709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk and we will assist as best we can.
We offer a high level of customer service, and if the component is beyond repair then we would endeavour to send out a replacement piece at no cost. However, we also recognise that not all parts require replacement, and where possible we would look to offer a repair at the first instance. Please bear in mind that only manufacturing defects are covered by warranty, and faults caused by wear and tear, incorrect use, weather or accidental damage would not be covered by the warranty. If you are unsure of any of this, please give us a call on 01709 242454 to discuss it with our customer services team.
The Gala Tent website is designed to be as helpful as possible, with each product coming with its own description, specification, and reviews so that you can see what previous clients had to say about them. If you’re not sure which item is the correct one for you then you can also check out our Advice Centre which goes into greater detail about which tent is ideal for which purpose, and there’s even a quick quiz which can suggest the best tent for you, depending on your answers. Alternatively, we have a very friendly and well-trained team available to discuss your every need, which can be contacted on 01709 242454 or by email at sales@galatent.co.uk
All of our items have their own specific product page which include all prices including VAT.
There are some items which cannot be priced online, as they are custom printed products, the prices of which can vary greatly, depending on exactly what you’re needing, so we advise that you call 01709 242454 to discuss your printed project with our expert sales team and they can provide you with an accurate and competitive price.
It is a Gala Tent policy objective to ensure that all products featured on the website should be available from stock. In the rare event that an item is temporarily out of stock, it will be indicated on the product’s page. The estimated lead time will also be featured on this page, so that you can make your decision on whether to place a pre-order to secure the first items back into the Distribution Centre, or whether to select an alternative item.
Discontinued items will be removed from sale online altogether.
If you wish to discuss your out-of-stock product, lease give the team a call on 01709 242454, and they’ll be more than happy to source alternatives or provide you with up-to-date lead-time information.
Gala Tent do not often have sales or special offers, as the products we supply are already priced very reasonably for the commercial quality of their build. However, if and when a special offer is running, it will often be displayed with the expiration date of the promotion on our banners which feature across the website. If you see an offer that you do not take advantage of, but when you come back to our website it is no longer available then we recommend you contact our sales team on 01709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk and continued offers would be at the sales manager’s discretion.
Yes, of course. As the UK’s largest and leading supplier of gazebos and marquees, Gala Tent has a great buying power, and supplier contacts from across the world. In addition to our own standard range of products, Gala Tent also supplies exclusive items to many high street retailers, shopping channels, or promotional companies, so if you can’t find what you are looking for then let us know by email to sales@galatent.co.uk and we will endeavour to source your products at the best possible price.
The Gala Tent returns policy means that should you change your mind, you can return your unwanted goods within 30 days of your purchase. We request that goods are returned in an unused condition and in the original packaging so that it can be returned to stock. The refund or credit would be minus the outgoing delivery costs, and unless the goods are defective, damaged, or not as specified on your order acknowledgement, you are responsible for the cost of returning goods to Gala Tent. We recommend that you use recorded delivery, as proof of shipping cannot be accepted as proof of delivery.
Due to the personalised nature of them, we are unable to accept printed items back as unwanted, and they are exempt from the 30 day returns policy.
If you wish to return your goods, please contact our customer services team on 01709 242454 to discuss the matter. More details on our returns policy can be found in our terms and conditions here.
All of our deliveries should be made within the timeframe advised at the point of order, either online or by telephone, but occasionally our third-party couriers may encounter unforeseen circumstances which can delay your delivery. We cannot accept liability for any inconvenience caused by this, but we will endeavour to assist as best we can to ensure disappointment is avoided.
If you have placed your order on the Gala Tent website but not received a confirmation email, or you have not received the order you placed by telephone in the estimated time advised, then please get in touch with the customer services team using the contact form, or by telephone on 01709 242454.
All limited warranty claims are now completed online, so you can log in to our account where you will find a link to complete your warranty claim. Our customer services team will then contact you to discuss the nature of your claim. You can call us on 01709 242454 to discuss the matter beforehand, if you so wish.
Our expert sales team have received extensive product training and have many years of experience between them, so if there’s a question you have that doesn’t feature here then please give us a call on 01709 242454 or email sales@galatent.co.uk and one of the team will talk you through any query you might have.
