How to build your own garden bar

The rise of the outdoor at-home bar; a private beer garden to unwind in, and a space in which to relax and celebrate the important things in life, has been well documented this year. It offers sanctuary, perhaps, and somewhere to go for a quiet drink to escape from computer screens, spend time with our nearest and dearest, and to recreate the corner of the bar you stayed in for far, far too long that hazy summer of ouzo in Greece.

According to Sam Greig, designer at Swoon furniture and accessories, the key elements are multipurpose shelving layered with bottles, pot plants and hanging ivies, accents such as well-placed mirrors to expand the space, and lighting with a soft, intimate glow. “Bring the inside out,” he says.

Consider carrying your favourite armchair and side table out into your garden, and wheeling a bar trolley out – kitchen island stools might double up perfectly as garden bar stools, while that console table could be put to good use mixing cocktails in the sunshine.”

Home bars have moved on since Del Boy’s set-up at Nelson Mandela House in Only Fools and Horses (although drinks trolleys are firmly back in fashion). Britons are putting their own spins on home bars, whether tropical, industrial, rustic or contemporary in style.

Laura Whitmore, the TV presenter, has a pub, “The Snug”, in her garden, with Guinness on tap, and according to Swoon, 39,000 people in the UK are searching online for home bar inspiration every month.

Wine cellar specialists Spiral Cellars, meanwhile, has made its wine cellars available for outdoor installation, maximising the underground space of entire plots to house up to 1,900 bottles or overflow glassware.

Ed Sheeran got into hot water when building his home pub, The Lancaster Lock, on his Suffolk estate in 2019. But now, it seems, everyone wants their very own bar. In a recent episode of ITV’s Love your Garden, Alan Titchmarsh and his team built grandfather Jim Thompson, a prostate cancer awareness campaigner with terminal cancer, a “pub” in a shed building, complete with beer on draught, darts board and a pub sign out front, to enjoy with loved ones.

Meanwhile, on BBC One’s Jay and Dom’s Home Fix, Jay Blades showed viewers how to fashion a garden bar with fence panels, a gravel board worktop and a painted sign. As a means to create an extra room for the house and a sense of “going out” at home, a garden bar is hard to beat, however much space you have.

‘It feels like a nightclub, but the kids can watch a film and I can work in here too’

Stylist, prop designer and events director Maddie Sidebottom, 41, and former international England cricketer Ryan Sidebottom, 43, live in County Durham with their children Louis, 11, Indi, 11, and Darley, nine

“We got married two weeks before the first lockdown, on my 40th birthday. In lieu of our planned honeymoon, we set out to create an extra entertainment room – an escape from the kids where we could display Ryan’s cricket memorabilia, and which we could use in both good and bad weather.

“We designed it together with Ross Pennington of standoutsummerhouses.co.uk, who was great – nothing was too much trouble. We had the bespoke bar with carrera quartz flecked worktops made by his carpenter, painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Railings’. There’s lighting and mirrors at the back, and two bar fridges. We’ve got about 40 gins: we’re obsessed with Slingsby’s Harrogate gin, and we love collecting local craft gins.

“We were worried it would make our garden seem smaller, and we panicked when we put the metal foundations in, but it seems to have expanded the space. We went for underfloor heating inside to avoid radiators, and spent around £25,000 in total. We wanted longevity, opting for Trex composite decking and aluminium bi-fold doors rather than cheaper UPVC. The outdoor furniture is the Elba aluminium and teak range from kettler.co.uk.

“It faces the house, so you can entertain with guests flowing to and from the kitchen via the garden. We’ve got interchangeable, warm mood lighting in the trees and along the western red cedar fencing, with olive trees in pots.

“It looks sleek and traditional from the outside, but we wanted the interior to be quirky. The flamingo and giraffe wallpaper is from Muck ’n’ Brass (mucknbrass.com), and is called ‘Chai Miracle’. I updated a side table with decoupage to match, and Marvellous Neon (marvellousneon.com) made the ‘Bottoms up!’ sign.

"Our copper bar accessories are from Oliver Bonas (oliverbonas.com) – we love lychee and passion fruit martinis from The Botanist. The green velvet bar stools are from my-furniture.com. It can feel like a nightclub, but it’s multifunctional – the kids can watch a film in there, and I use it as a study to work in, too.”

‘Our project was inspired by a trip to Barbados, but it’s practical for British weather’

Charlotte Clout, 49, lives in Kent with her husband, Ian, 53, their three sons Alex, 17, Harry, 14, and Ollie, 10, and cockapoo Rolo

"We were inspired to create our bar by a trip to Barbados. We started the project in April 2019, with the aim of creating a beach-bar feel. We wanted a sense of openness, rather than it feeling shed-like, so the bar has a mechanism whereby it opens up and closes slowly like the boot of a car.

"It was made for us by RJ Groves Building Services in Colchester with shack-style shiplap, dark-stained wooden panelling which is means that it is practical for British weather. I wanted plenty of storage for cups, plates and glasses so we didn’t end up going in and out of the house, so we had a mini kitchen area fitted at the back by Howdens.

"We put four optics in, and bought a Sonos Move speaker, a DeliVita pizza oven, an Outback barbecue and a firepit from Wayfair. We put fairy lights and uplighting among the plants for a restaurant-like atmosphere. We’ve got a Scolaro parasol from Italy, black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) and olive trees, colourful potted flowers and purple wisteria.

“Potted herbs are great for making cocktails. We love rosemary for gin and tonics and fresh mint with Doorly’s white Bajan rum for mojitos. We spent about £10,000: it’s a great place for my sons to socialise with their friends as they get older, and a haven for us.

“It’s also somewhere I can hold business meetings - while social distancing of course: I’m the founder of homewares brand Marokka, designing sustainable 3D-printed animal-inspired sculptures with a candle range (marokka.com). Dotting candles and tea lights around make the bar extra special for birthdays and celebrations.”

‘We wanted a grown-up space: our design evolved around a pizza oven’

Make-up artist Lisa Valencia, 51, lives in East London with her photographer husband, John, 53, their sons, Oscar, 27, Zak, 22, and Jonah, 20 and their Welsh terrier

“When we built a kitchen extension in 2015, the garden was wrecked. We had to start again, and because the children were older, we wanted a grown-up space. Our outdoor bar evolved around a pizza oven. First, we built a marble-topped bar on top of a gabion wire mesh stone wall.

Marble is great for rolling out pizzas, as well as being hardy for outdoors. Then, we put a corrugated iron roof on so it was sheltered year-round. Once the wood-fired oven is firing away, it’s lovely and warm.

“Our Tolix-style, midcentury modern bar stools came from a restaurant in Walthamstow called Eat 17, which was having a refurb. The disco ball was a prop from a photo shoot. Throwing sheepskins over the stools adds softness.

Plants make it homely: we’ve got palms in pots, a beautiful big fern on the bar, and clematis and jasmine creepers for their scent.

“We don’t have optics – I just put a big cooler box of beers and wines behind the bar, and wheel our vintage drinks trolley out from the house. For parties, we put someone behind the bar dedicated to serving drinks; otherwise, everyone just props themselves up.

“For summer, we bought an Indian-style garden parasol for shade. The flooring is the same big concrete tiles as our kitchen, so it flows from indoor to outdoor. We definitely see it as ‘another room’, and as a sanctuary. It’s rustic, done quite cheaply, and allows us to essentially live outside.”

‘We transformed our garden with areas for lounging, a children’s play area, outdoor kitchen and a bar’

Peter Taylor lives in Hertfordshire with his wife, Danielle Taylor, and their five young children

“We bought our house in November 2019, and asked a small, local landscaping firm, Limebok Landscaping (limebok.co.uk), to transform our garden with spaces for lounging, a children’s play area, outdoor kitchen and a bar.

"We wanted it to be cool, modern and low maintenance, with fun features for adults and kids. We used paving from London Stone (londonstone.co.uk), and bought an all-weather pergola awning from Caribbean Blinds (cbsolarshading.co.uk) called an “Outdoor Living Pod” (from £9,500), with ambient lighting.

"We installed a rotating roof, which means that the bar area is water, wind and snow tight, and provides shade. The project took about six months: now, we can relax outside with an unobstructed view of the kids’ play area. In the bar, we use More Pour (morepour.com) for beer tap installation and maintenance.”

‘Thatch gives the welcome sense of being abroad in a little tropical oasis’

Thatcher-by-trade Tim Anderson, 43, is the founder of Cocohuts, thatched garden bars that combine traditional British thatching methods with a tropical aesthetic. He lives in Hampshire with his wife, Jess, 41, and their three border collies, Poppy, Fern and Willow

“My wife and I see our ‘Cocohut’ bar as an all-year-round garden room. We even had our Christmas lunch out here together. It’s great even when it’s chucking it down, but in summer, it comes into its own. I founded FTL Thatching (ftlthatching.co. uk) when I was 22, and the idea was to take my years of experience of thatching using traditional, durable techniques, but to switch up the aesthetics with round pine timber frames, unique curves and symmetry.

“We used other sustainable materials with a low carbon footprint including locally sourced water reeds for the thatch with a Devon wheat straw ridge, eucalyptus in the roof structure for a rustic look – with lots of twists and turns for character – and hazel. It gives you a welcome sense of being abroad in a little tropical oasis, partly inspired by African round huts.

“When it’s hot, it’s lovely and cool: British thatch is an insulator that keeps heat in, but reflects heat and is breathable in summer. The challenge of building something so imaginatively from the ground up with materials I’m familiar with has been fantastic – it’s a real extension to our home, making the most of a previously wasted part of the back garden.

“Ours took three weeks and a day to build, but a Cocohut might take two weeks or so to construct depending on size. They can be used as a bar, yoga space, dining area, workspace or lounge.

“I used sanded oak for my bartop, built cupboards, and bought a barbecue, an optics set and an outdoor TV. My favourite tipple is Saxon Bronze, a local ale from Alfred’s Brewery. It’s a new way of living, and it may not be for everybody – but for us, it’s a little bit of paradise in our garden.”

Starting prices from £10,000; cocohuts.co.uk

Our pick of the best garden bar accessories

Blue scooter bar unit in metal and mango wood, £811; maisonsdumonde.com

Middlet Tiki bar in acacia by Bay Isle Home, £389.99; wayfair.co.uk

Pink Nina round bamboo two-metre canopy parasol, £399; eastlondonparasols.com

Ultimate gin and to wall-mounted optic Down the Lane Woodcraft, £98; etsy.com

Ivyline outdoor cast on fire bowl on stand in rust, £200; amara.com

Sixteen-piece wall-mounted stainless steel mixologist kit, £69, glamouroushangups.com

Bali natural rattan bar drinks trolley, £275; oliverbonas.com