Pensioner builds boozer in garden shed with stained glass windows and ‘aquarium’
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A DIY-savvy pensioner has built a traditional boozer in his garden that is so realistic it’s now used as a community hub and Neighbourhood Watch venue.
Tim Griffiths, 68, splashed £5,000 on The Smuggler’s Notch in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, for him and wife Janet, also 68.
The retired architecture illustrator said: “I’m really pleased with how it all turned out. Everybody that’s been to the snug has been pretty blown away.”
READ MORE: Bar staff flee from massive swarm of bees that force boozer to close down
The Mirror reports Tim was inspired by his late parents hosting soirees at the indoor bar in their home.
Using two tonnes of reclaimed pallets, Tim painstakingly built the 6ft-long bar over the course of four to five months.
Tim says that since many pubs have had "makeovers" in recent years, they have lost the feel of a traditional pub and he hopes his inn is a homage to that.
Meanwhile, he complains that due to the general decline of the British boozer over the last decade, there is no longer one in walking distance in their area – leaving locals short of a meeting place.
Instead, Tim and Janet allow local groups to use The Smuggler's Notch as a community hub.
They have also hosted Christmas Day and Burns Night in the snug too. He said: "We're not a commercial thing. Anything that I serve is stuff that we've bought – we're not a pub, as such.
"While we provide drinks, people often bring their own anyway because that's the way they are."
Tim first began by building a timber structure around his garage that he clad and waterproofed before disassembling the original metal frame in late 2020.
It was not until the following year that Tim and Janet, who is a retired teacher, decided to add a 'snug' named The Smuggler's Notch.
The snug was completed in late 2022 once the stunning upholstery was fitted.
In a bid to be frugal and environmentally friendly, Tim used reclaimed pallets from a friend, as well as reclaimed expanded polystyrene for the cladding.
The pub boasts a large seating booth that can comfortably fit 10 people, a beautiful rose stained-glass window designed by Tim that pays homage to his late mother – whose middle name was Rose – and even a fake fire.
Tim said: "Inside the pub we built a hearth, but we obviously can't have a proper hearth because it's a timber building and there's no chimney on the outside.
"What I've used is an optimyst to create what looks like a hearth with a brick back that isn't.
"The aquarium isn't real either. It's a TV screen, but it fools people. They actually think there's an aquarium in there."
Tim also saved money on labour costs by doing a large majority of it all himself, with his wife Janet also giving a helping hand.
The only work he outsourced was for the upholstery for the seating booth and the stain glass window making – which was one of the more expensive details of his DIY endeavour.
Tim and Janet's family and friends have been left gobsmacked with the results when they have given them the grand tour.
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