A brief history of Gala Tent

Britain’s first and largest supplier of marquees and commercial pop up gazebos, Gala Tent Ltd, came into being when the company's founder and Managing Director, Jason Mace, was working behind the bar of his parents Working Men’s Club. The year was 1999 and Jason had a moment of inspiration when in July of that year he was phoning local companies in the yellow pages in an attempt to hire a marquee for the club's millennium celebrations.

At the time the millennium celebrations were the highest profile media event across the press and television. The tabloid papers were reporting tales of massive increases in costs for any organised event on the millennium eve - wages for staff would be up to £50 per hr, pubs and clubs would be charging extortionate admission fees, and beer would be £10 a pint. Every call that Jason made to local marquee companies resulted in the same answer. The conversation went something like this:-

Jason: "Do you have a 20ft x 20ft marquee for hire ?"

Marquee Company: "Is it for the millenium ?"

Jason: "Yes"

Marquee Company: "No, we are sold out !" or "No, we are completely booked up, sorry !"

It became clear that most people had decided to stay at home for the millennium celebrations and were planning family parties, including a lot of street parties. That day Gala Tent was born when Jason sourced a UK Importer and sourced a garden marquee which would be suitable to extend the home for a party, the company started trading 1st September 1999.

Gala Tent made it affordable for the general public to buy a marquee rather than hire, along with related equipment and save on hire costs when used frequently. Further value is added as Gala structures have multiple uses only limited by your imagination; basically you will always require some kind of cover for events at home and now you can!

Click here to view and buy from the range of affordable garden marquees.

There is always a hire option as Gala Tents innovative new concept has also produced a new market sector, the Garden Marquee Hire Industry. Before Gala Tent only weddings and other major corporate events were hosted in marquees, nowadays you can call a local Gala Tent hire company and hire a garden marquee for a little as a few hundred pounds. There are now over a hundred marquee hire companies around the United Kingdom due to the influence of Gala Tent. This sector is now growing throughout Europe every year as more join the network.

Click here to read some marquee hire case studies.

Before Gala Tent introduced the new range of Gala Shade Pro Gazebos market traders and street food vendors worked from old box section framed units with a fly sheet thrown over and held down by ugly bull dog clips. Seeing these ugly units Gala Tent introduced the Pro Gazebos range in a variety of colours and sizes, with the option of branding with logos and a clear marketing message. As awareness has buildt up over the years the old shabby market stalls have started to dwindle as market traders become more image conscious, this has also driven a new market sector with street food operators becoming increasingly popular all over Britain. Town councils have also adopted this method.

Click here to view the Market Stalls.

Click here to view the full Pro range of gazebos.

Click here to view the Printing Service.