Dry Hire/Blank Canvas Venues

A dry-hire or blank canvas venue is a space you rent as “the shell” – typically the room(s), basic lighting, and sometimes furniture – but you bring in your own catering, bar, décor and production. It’s ideal if you want full creative control over the look, feel and suppliers at your event. Function Fixers

Blank canvas venues are perfect for product launches, brand activations, pop-ups, fashion shows, exhibitions, filming, and highly creative corporate events. Because you can transform the space, they also work brilliantly for themed parties and experiential events.

In most dry-hire venues, you’re hiring the space itself plus standard lighting, power and basic facilities (toilets, loading access, sometimes furniture). You would normally arrange catering, bar, staffing, AV, décor and styling separately – either with your own preferred suppliers or recommendations from us.

Yes – that’s one of the main advantages of a dry-hire venue. Many venues have an approved list of caterers and production partners, but plenty are happy to work with your own suppliers as long as they have the right insurance, health & safety documentation and work within the venue’s rules.

Alongside the venue hire fee, you’ll need to factor in catering, bar, staffing, furniture, AV, décor, security, cloakroom, cleaning and any late licence or overtime charges. When you brief Function Fixers, we’ll help you build a realistic budget and flag any hidden costs so there are no surprises later.

For peak dates (spring/summer and Christmas party season), we recommend starting your search 6–12 months out, especially for large capacities or highly sought-after locations. For mid-week or off-season events there is more flexibility, and we can often find strong last-minute options.

Yes. Our core service is venue finding, but because we work with venues and suppliers every day, we can recommend trusted caterers, production companies, stylists and entertainment to match your brief. We can put you in touch or support you with next steps once the venue is confirmed.

No – while many of our blank canvas spaces are in London, we also source dry-hire venues across the UK, from converted warehouses and galleries to studios and industrial spaces in major cities and beyond.

You send us your brief (date, numbers, location, budget and style), and we’ll quickly shortlist suitable dry-hire and blank canvas spaces for you. We handle the research, check availability, negotiate rates and help you compare options – and our service is completely free to you.

There isn’t one. Function Fixers is paid a standard commission by the venue as part of their marketing budget, so you don’t pay us a fee and you won’t pay more than if you went direct. In many cases, our relationships mean we can secure better value or added extras for your event.