Tender: Catering and Events Concession at Southsea Castle, Portsmouth – Lease Starting 1 Feb 2027

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Portsmouth City Council is seeking a supplier for catering and events services at Southsea Castle under a long-term commercial concession combining rental income and an incentivised revenue share; the procurement offers two contract term options (Lot 1: 5 years + option to extend up to 5 years; Lot 2: 7 years + option to extend up to 3 years) with a single contract to be awarded and a targeted award date of 21 September 2026, and operations to commence on 1 February 2027 following expiry of the current lease. The Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument operating as a visitor attraction, museum, restaurant and events venue attracting over 10,000 visitors per month in the summer; permitted uses include public-facing restaurant service (approximately 60 internal covers and up to 54 external covers) and private/operator-led events (up to 60 seated or 80 standing in the restaurant area), with access to larger Council-managed marquee space (up to 120 seated or 200 standing) for some events. The operator must provide a minimum daily service between 09:30 and 17:00, keep the site open for at least 50 weeks per year, accommodate Council-managed events, share back-of-house and storage areas, and comply with performance KPIs covering customer experience, event delivery, catering quality, commercial reporting, compliance/asset stewardship and partnership working; all repairs require permissions from Historic England and the Council. Financial requirements include a minimum guaranteed annual rental target of £32,000 over the initial 5 years paid quarterly in advance, a proposed Year 1 revenue share between 3% and 10% (payments due within 30 days of each contract year end), and the Council’s non-binding estimate of circa £600,000 turnover in Year 1 with a potential indicative contract value of £7–8 million over a 10-year term.