Wasp Control for Scraptoft Restaurants, Pubs and Commercial Premises
Pints, cider, crisps and children's squash make a beer garden a magnet in late summer. This guide explains how to find the nest and protect your customers.
A busy garden in the wrong month
A pub can have its best trading weeks in July and August, which is also when a wasp colony is at its largest. The two meet in the beer garden. Sweet drinks, cider, spilled shandy and empty glasses are a reliable source of sugar, and an unattended table of food is a ready source of protein for the nest.
Scraptoft sits on the eastern edge of Leicester, and a pub on the edge of a built-up area often has a garden, a car park and some planting behind it. Wasps do not care about the layout; they care about whether food is close to a good nest site.
The practical question for a licensee is simple: is this a few wasps drawn by drinks, or is there a nest on my premises? The answer determines whether tidying is enough or you need a visit.
It also helps to remember that a pub garden is a temporary home for a lot of sugar. Wasps often arrive in numbers when a large party is seated, because many glasses and plates are out at once. Keep this in mind when you plan a christening or a birthday gathering, and clear more often than usual.
Telling a nuisance from a nest
If wasps arrive at the garden in small numbers, mostly at glasses and plates, and disappear when the tables are cleared, the problem is probably a passing one. A nest is likely when you notice the following:
- Wasps crossing the garden in a regular line, entering a gap and leaving it all day.
- Holes in the lawn, bank or border with wasps coming and going, which may be a nest in the ground.
- Wasps entering the eaves, a gable end, a shed roof, a smoking shelter or the barrel store.
- A growing number at the tables even though bins are emptied regularly.
- Staff reporting wasps inside the bar or in a first-floor window.
Mowing near a ground nest, hitting a hedge with a trimmer or strimming the verge by the car park are the classic ways people get stung by a nest they did not know was there. If you suspect one, mark the area off with a sign or a rope and keep staff and customers away.
Practical steps for the bar team
Pub staff handle the empties and so are best placed to cut down the number of wasps in the garden. These steps work whether or not you have a nest:
- Collect glasses frequently during the afternoon, and tip dregs into a covered bin, not into an open one.
- Keep outside bins on the far side of the garden from tables and leave the lids shut.
- Offer lids or straws for children's drinks and tell parents why.
- Wipe tables between customers, including the edges where cider and squash collect.
- Keep ashtrays emptied, because spilled sugary drinks often end up in them.
Do not allow staff to swat wasps over food or beside the bar, and do not use shop-bought wasp products near the pump area, food prep or tables. A wasp that is crushed or provoked can attract others and sting. A calm, slow response from the bar team, with customers moved to another table if needed, avoids most stings.
What treatment involves for a pub
The visit is straightforward and does not need the pub to close. The technician is trained and fully insured, and the cost is a fixed £95 per nest, with an additional nest on the same property charged at £35 per extra nest. There is no call-out charge. We are open seven days a week and can offer same-day service. You will be told the price on the phone before the visit and nothing is done until you agree.
When you ring, tell us where in the garden or building the wasps are going, whether the area is near customers and whether anyone on the team has an allergy. The technician will walk the site with you, treat the nest and advise on what to watch for afterwards. If you want the empty nest taken down, ask at the time of booking.
Staff on the bar should know the plan, so nobody goes to look at the nest out of curiosity. A short note in the handover book, naming the area to avoid, is enough until the technician has been.
Planning around trade
A busy Saturday lunch or a booked party in the garden is a good reason to ring sooner rather than later. Phone 0116 214 9259 or send the booking form on the contact page, and give the pub name, the location of the nest, and the part of the garden customers use most. We cover Scraptoft and the surrounding villages.
Once the nest has been dealt with, you will still see the odd wasp in September and October, because individual workers keep feeding for a time. Keep up the glass collection and bin habits and your customers should find the garden pleasant again.
After the visit: keeping the garden comfortable
Treatment deals with the nest, but not the individual wasps that were out foraging at the time. Expect to see a few for a short while around the garden, mostly at glasses. This is normal and they do not return to a nest that is no longer there.
Keep walking the garden each morning before opening, looking at the usual gaps and the ground, so that you notice any new activity early. If you see another nest, we charge £35 for an additional nest on the same property, so mention it at the same visit if you can. Late-season queens may also look for a sheltered spot to spend winter in sheds and outbuildings, so tidy these out in autumn and keep the doors closed.
A note for the licensee: record the date you noticed the problem and the date you booked, so that anyone covering your shift knows what happened and what to watch. That is simply good housekeeping, and it helps staff share the same information.
Wasps on your property in Scraptoft?
Fixed price £95 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.