I built an ‘old-man’ boozer in my garden to watch the Euros after my wife said ‘you’re not going down to the pub again’
A EUROS-MAD dad built an ‘old man’ boozer in his back garden complete with beer pumps, slot machines and a toilet stall.
Ben Cullen says his wife Erin was stunned when she discovered that he planned to watch every match of the Euros.
The couple have a young daughter, so to make sure Ben isn’t too far away to help out, the dad decided to build a pub in the family garden.
The 34-year-old grew up going to pubs in Birmingham with his dad, who was a DJ, and since then fell in love with the ‘warm’ atmosphere of ‘old-man’ pubs – and set upon the idea of building his own to watch the footy.
He began the project a couple of months before the Euros started and has kitted the space out with England flags and a TV, hosting family parties for every match.
Ben, who works as a cake artist, is no newbie to DIY and ‘wacky projects’ and even installed a jukebox, a fruit-machine and a toilet in his homemade pub.
Sharing his handiwork on TikTok, Ben’s caption joked: “Mrs: You’re not going down the pub again. Me: Builds pub in garden.”
But the dad admits it’s more to spend time with their daughter, Willow Cullen, as he says he can’t just say on a weeknight ‘good luck with Willow, I’m going to the pub’.
So he even opted to name the pub ‘the Willow Tree’ after their three-year-old.
Ben, from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, said: “It’s all kitted out and ready for the Euros.
“At the start of the Euros, after England first played, the next day my wife didn’t really understand [that I wanted to watch all the games].
“She was like ‘You’re going to be watching all the games? You’re only supporting England?’
“It was hilarious. Putting up all the flags and decorations is more of a clue to her that I’m invested in this.
“We can see Willow playing outside too so it’s just perfect.
“Once you have a kid, you have this shared responsibility of a human so I can’t just say [to my wife] on a weeknight ‘good luck with Willow, I’m going to the pub’.
“It’s been ideal for that, it means I’m just at the end of the garden.
“[Erin] does like it but there’s loads of jobs that need doing in the house and I’m building a pub in the garden.
“She’s asking me to fix the skirting boards and I’m doing all these wacky projects.
“She subtly prompts me now, she says ‘now that that pub is finished…’
“But she does love it, she came and sat in the other day and thinks it’s amazing.”
The pub includes a fruit machine, jukebox, a TV, a toilet and dartboard as the dad hoped to curate the feel of a real, authentic pub with no waiting queues.
Known online as the ‘Bake King’ for his ‘illusion cakes’, Ben even tricked unsuspecting friends by making the dartboard from cake when they first came to visit.
Ben said: “I’ve really tried to capture that pub essence so I do feel like I’m at a real pub but with the benefits of no queues and my daughter can wander in or out.
“She’s three so she’s like ‘can we go to the pub?’ but it’s just to the garden really.
“She’s like ‘can we have dinner in the pub?’ which is hilarious because she doesn’t realise.
“You can roll straight into bed after, I only have to walk the length of the garden. No queues and it’s cheaper.
“Friends absolutely love it.
“The dartboard was cake at one point. It’s always the joke with me that people say they don’t feel safe around me because they never know if something is cake or not.
“It’s fun to just play with it to see if they can find the hidden cake.”
The self-proclaimed pub-lover now hopes to encourage others to build their dream pub at the end of the garden as it has been the perfect addition for the summer.
Backyard sheds and bars: the rules
Thanks to law changes in recent years, building a shed doesn’t normally require permission.
Since 2008, “permitted development rights” means you can usually get hammering without having to follow a painful application process.
This includes: sheds, greenhouses, garages, sauna cabins, kennels, swimming pools, ponds and tennis courts.
The main rule is that has to be built for the enjoyment of whoever lives at the house.
In other words, constructing a building for accommodation isn’t allowed without planning permission.
If you’re in England and Wales, these are the rules, according to according to shed manufacturer Waltons:
- Not including the area occupied by the house, the shed does not cover more than 50% of the garden.
- Your shed is not located on land forward of a wall forming the principal elevation – not in front of your house.
- The shed is single storey with a maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres and a maximum overall height of 4 metres if it has a dual-pitched roof, or 3 metres in any other case.
- If the shed is located within 2 metres of the property’s boundary, the entire building is not more than 2.5 metres high.
- The shed has no veranda or balcony. Raised platforms such as decking should be no higher than 30cm from ground level
- The floor area does not exceed 15 square metres. (Up to 30 square metres may fall under permitted development providing that other conditions are also met).
- The shed is for domestic use only, by those who occupy the house and contains no sleeping accommodation.
In Scotland, you need permission if it’s within one metre of a neighbouring property, or more than 2.5 metres in height.
Rules may also differ in Northern Ireland, including the distance between the shed and a road that runs behind the house.
Ben said: “I love the pub. My dad was an old school DJ with his best mate. Pretty much every week they’d be in pubs and I’d love to go help him carry the equipment in.
“Proper old man style pubs have always been something that I’ve loved. I love seeing a really obscure looking pub and stopping and going in.
“That warmth, in winter with the light coming in, I just think they’re magical.
“I wanted it ready for this summer with everything going on.
“We’ve had a few family parties so far and I think we’ll have one on Saturday with the game being on.
“[After posting it online], I’m seeing a lot of wives getting tagged saying ‘we could do this in our garden’.
“I think if people are thinking about doing it, they should just go for it.”
Ben’s pub came shortly after footie mad dad Sean Rushton, 48, made his own bar in the back garden, also to watch the Euros.
Sean said: “It’s great being able to get out of the house without going too far when you don’t fancy going to the pub, with no expensive drinking and having a space where I can enjoy a few drinks and watch the football with friends.”
Although the initial cost to build-your-own-bar is expensive, Sean assured that it works out cheaper than the pub in the long run.
There has been a crazy increase in Google searches for garden bars, with the term being googled 324,200 times since last year.