Portabar: A Portable Bar For a Multipurpose Space

Adapt and thrive with Portabar’s versatile pop up bar system.

Managing a large-scale corporate events space is no mean feat. Running one function alone is complex, but when you’re handling multiple events in the space of a day – each with their own unique set of demands and expectations – the logistics are immense. The Portabar pop up bar system reconfigures seamlessly to a ream of shapes and sizes. With its full range of interchangeable worktops and bespoke styling options, it is uniquely placed to deliver time and time again.

Chris Barker is Senior Catering Event Manager at Manchester Central, a historic exhibitions venue that hosts 130 events a year. “Portabar is a perfect fit for us,” he says. “An event venue like ours requires different shapes and branding for each event that we do. Portabar has met all those demands. As a portable bar brand, it does exactly what it says in all ways.”

Here’s how Portabar’s original mobile bar system can help your corporate events space thrive.

A shape and set-up that adapts in the moment

Navigating a multipurpose events space can be a bit like playing a giant game of Jenga. You need equipment to slot into all kinds of areas – large and small – all while looking effortless and architecturally beautiful.

Happily, Portabar is more than up to the challenge. This is a portable bar that was designed to adapt. One of its foremost values is that it is hugely flexible – it can be a cocktail bar for one event and a beer dispense bar at the next; delivering to both large events or small intimate gatherings. And the best part; it’s quick and easy to configure and change between events.

So, as the person in charge of events, there are infinite shapes and sizes that you can choose from to fit various briefs. Providing drinks for a conference in your main hall with 800 guests? Try a six-bay octagonal Portabar as a centrepiece, with two nine-bay straight bars at either end of the space. Need something that’ll squeeze into an 18th Century snug, for 30 or so theatre fans? Our three-bay wheeled system will do the job.

Portabar’s linking bundle allows small bars to be joined to create larger ones, and vice versa, so there are always more options available. Corner bays offer scope for different shapes, while a back-fitting bar allows you to expand the space you have to include items like fridges or lockable drawers.

Your bar, exactly the way you want it

If every occasion has different demands, so does every bartender. We at Portabar know the value of operational excellence – it’s precisely what our mobile bar units provide.

As a bartender, you can set up your Portabar space how you want it. Want an insulated ice chest? No problem. Need a fridge? Coming right up. Fancy changing out that till space for a worktop that accommodates a keg? We’ve got you covered.

From lit spirit tiers to ice chests with speedrails and beyond, our bars come with all the benefits of a permanent fixture – but with the added advantage that you can swap them about on a whim.

As an events manager working in a multipurpose space, this quality is invaluable because you never know quite what you’ll need and when. Instead of being left high and dry, Portabar’s many features let you adapt to the flow of events, and allow each bartender to work in the way that they want to.

As Federico Riezzo ( above centre), the co-founder of Dublin-based events company Catch Events, says: “It makes life very easy for the staff and the guests, and helps to secure the overall success of events.”

Easy to add cladding

It takes a lot of time and effort to decide on your brand identity, but Portabar makes the execution part of it easy. Not only that, it’s fun too. Get exactly the look you want with our made-to-measure magnetic branding. Whether you want a tiled effect one day , or prefer something more tropical the next, we can help. We can work with our printing partners to help you create anything from large-scale brand logos to a boho beach effect.

These panels are so easy to peel on and off, you can actually change them mid-event. So if you need to switch from decadent wedding bar to fun-loving gin garden in a matter of minutes, you can. The cladding sets the mood, and any other background props you add in (plants, books, a picture or two) all add to the effect.

On top of that, you can use Portabar’s back-fitting bars to display bespoke magnetic signs. Perhaps you want to congratulate the happy couple, post up your drinks menu or announce details for a panel of speakers: this is the place to do it.

Again, you can peel off and replace banners or logos in a heartbeat, which is mighty useful when you’re running multiple events at once, and have different drinks menus throughout the day.

Flight cases for compact transportation

When you’re working in a large exhibition or conference centre, you spend half your life hauling things around. It’s a hassle. Portabar is designed to take the stress out of the process with flight cases. No location is too difficult.

Each of our bars and all their parts fit neatly into these compact cases. These are also wheeled, so you can move them about effortlessly, without breaking a sweat.

Pernod Ricard Nigeria recently shipped 47 Portabar flight cases from our base in the Cotswolds all the way to sunny Lagos and beyond without a hiccup. Our portable cocktail bars regularly travel the world, accessing all kinds of wonderful, far-flung venues.

So, transporting them between function rooms is a breeze, and you can do it quickly. The same goes if you’re planning on taking a few bars outdoors.

A quick slot-together build

There’s nothing worse than flat-pack furniture with hundreds of tiny parts and instructions you can’t understand. But you can breathe easy, because Portabar has none of that fiddly detail to tie you in knots.

Our mobile bar units are designed like giant Lego pieces, with stainless steel parts and frames that all slot together seamlessly. There are no fixings to lose and each bar can be assembled and taken apart quickly.

The system is just as easy to add to or adapt, whether you’re creating a few extra bays, changing your worktop or replacing your sink with a bin. All this makes your life in a multipurpose events space as drama-free as possible. Sure, you’ll still have fussy guests to attend to, or logistical headaches to solve, but the bar won’t be one of them. And, at the end of a long night when you’re desperate to go home, you can disassemble it quickly and easily into flight cases, leaving Portabar ready for the next day of action.