Outdoor heating for pubs, restaurants and hotels

Radiant heat weakens quickly with distance, so mounting height and angle matter more than headline wattage. Units mounted too high — a common attempt to keep them out of sight — deliver a fraction of their output to the guests below. On an exposed site, wind screening usually buys more comfort than extra kilowatts.

Zone the terrace so quiet midweek sections stay off, and put the heaters on timers or push-buttons rather than leaving them running all evening. That single control decision is normally the difference between a system that pays and one that becomes a line-item complaint.

Patio gas cylinders have almost no installation cost, which is why they dominate. Over two seasons they usually lose: cylinder cost per evening, storage and handling, staff time, and no meaningful control. A permanent electric circuit with wall or beam-mounted radiant units has a real installation cost but a predictable cost per hour and no handling at all.

For a hotel or multi-site group, the deciding factor is often consistency: the same specification across every site, with metered, controllable output, rather than a cylinder count that varies by venue.

Seating on the public highway needs a pavement licence, and the highway authority may have conditions on fixed structures. A listed frontage or a conservation area can require consent for visible fixings. Bright short-wave heaters near residential windows create genuine light-nuisance complaints, so medium-wave or low-glare units are the safer specification in mixed-use streets.

Fire separation from awnings, umbrellas and timber, plus weatherproof isolation and RCD protection under BS 7671, are non-negotiable in the electrical design.