What’s Included in Theatre Prop Hire (UK Guide for 2026)

First-time prop hire customers (and surprisingly often, theatres that haven’t hired in a while) ask the same three things on the first call:

  1. What do I actually get for the hire fee?
  2. What if it breaks?
  3. Is delivery extra?

Here’s the straight answer on all three, plus the bits nobody mentions until you’re in week of show and need an extra Edwardian decanter.

What’s in the standard hire fee

For most UK prop hire houses (us included), the hire fee covers:

  • The prop itself — clean, repaired, ready to use
  • Standard wear cover — small marks, makeup transfer, light scuffs from normal stage use
  • PAT-test certificate for electrical props, dated within the last 12 months
  • A prop list / packing slip itemising what’s gone out
  • Email and phone support if something doesn’t fit the staging or the designer’s brief on first look

If we’re hiring you a 1950s rotary telephone, you’re getting a tested, working, period-correct prop with a cord that’s been replaced for safety, sat in a foam-padded box, with the catalogue number on the packing list. That’s standard.

What’s normally extra

These vary supplier to supplier, but expect to be quoted separately for:

  • Delivery and collection — usually mileage-based, or local-area flat-rate. Many hire houses include free collection from the workshop and charge for delivery.
  • Installation for larger or rigged items (rigged fly props, working appliances, period chandeliers)
  • Bespoke modifications — repainting, reupholstering, swapping a 1920s telephone bell for a quieter modern one for radio mic’d shows
  • Express turnaround under 48 hours
  • Replacement value insurance if you’re hiring high-value pieces and the venue doesn’t carry production cover

For TTD’s prop hire, local delivery across the Fylde Coast and the North West is included on most package hires; long-distance delivery is quoted on the brief.

Two things people forget to ask about

1. Fire ratings on soft props.
Pretty much every venue in the UK now requires soft furnishings used on stage to be fire-rated to BS5852 (cigarette + match resistance) or equivalent. Old upholstered furniture from a charity shop almost certainly isn’t. Your hire pieces should be — ask for the certificate. We send it with the packing list as standard.

2. PAT-test certificates.
If you’re hiring a working lamp, table light, gramophone-with-speaker, or any electrical item, the venue’s H&S officer will want to see a PAT-test sticker and ideally the certificate. Worth checking. (HSE guidance on portable appliance testing.)

How damage and loss are handled

This is the bit nobody enjoys talking about, but here’s the realistic framing:

Normal wear is normal. A book that’s been opened, a chair that’s been sat in, a sword that’s been waved — these come back with use marks. That’s expected and included.

Significant damage — a chair leg snapped, a glass smashed beyond repair, an antique radio dropped — is charged at a published repair or replacement rate, agreed at the time of hire. You see the number before you sign, so there’s no surprise at the end of the run.

Loss — chair vanished, prop didn’t come back in the box — same: published replacement value, agreed up front.

Most professional hire houses (including TTD) publish these rates as part of the hire agreement. If a supplier won’t quote a damage rate before you book, that’s a flag — you don’t know what the worst-case bill looks like.

How to brief a prop list

The best prop briefs we get include:

  • Production name + show dates
  • The script’s prop list — even if it’s draft. Saves us flagging items you’ve already cut.
  • Scene-by-scene context — “Act 2 scene 4, kitchen, contemporary working-class” tells us more than “kitchen prop”
  • 2-3 acceptable alternatives per hero item — popular pieces book out
  • Photos or reference images for anything specific (period accuracy, brand spoofs, etc.)
  • Venue dimensions if it’s anything large (a chaise longue that won’t fit through the get-in door is no use)

If you can give us that on day one, you’ll get an itemised quote back within two working days. Vague brief = vague quote = three rounds of email = lost time.

What we hire (and what we don’t)

We hire period and contemporary furniture, books, telephones, lanterns, weapons, themed dressings, specialist props, and full show-specific prop packages — built up over years of touring, repertory, school production and amateur-musical work.

We also bespoke-build anything we don’t have in stock, to designer’s drawings. Most weeks the workshop has at least one bespoke prop on the bench alongside the standing hire stock.

We don’t hire weapons that fire (firearms, even prop ones), live pyrotechnic effects (use a licensed pyro supplier), or anything with restricted licensing requirements.

Looking for scenic or costume too?

Most productions need more than one of {scenic, costume, prop}. Working with one supplier across all three normally saves money, time, and the coordination overhead of three different delivery schedules.

  • Scenic hire & build — flats, rostra, dressing, full sets, bespoke build to drawings
  • Costume hire — full-show packages, principal builds, character hires via Sugar Plum

Or send us your prop list — we’ll come back within two working days.

Similar Posts