Over the last few years there’s been a real phenomenon of creating your own pub in the garden. We’re continually seeing “John’s Pub” or “The Dog & Duck” at the bottom of a garden. And with the pub a great British pastime, it is a solid idea and perfect for those who like to invent friends round for a socialise.

However, so many people have such an idea, only to not execute it properly, meaning they’re essentially inviting friends over to have a supermarket-bought bottle of beer in a shed. It’s hardly the pub experience is it?

So, to help you out, here are three top tips for creating the ultimate garden pub…

Get the decor right

First up, you need to get the decor right. Think about every element and how you make it welcoming and a place people want to spend time. Starting with the flooring, and it may depend on what type of pub or bar you want to create. If you’re after the more traditional feel, consider some limestone paving, perhaps softly aged or cobbled, giving you something high-quality, traditional and in keeping with the many countryside pubs up and down the country.

The bar area is of course the focal point so you need to craft this with care. You could go with a wooden countertop, while many more modern craft beer pubs use recycled materials these days. Either way, you need it to be sturdy, at the right height to lean and provide you with enough room to work that bar too!

Outside of that, consider what you want to put on your walls. Don’t just leave it bare. There are lots of options here and it should reflect your own personal tastes.

Get your beer selection nailed down – and get a line installed!

A pub has multiple lines of cask and keg beers. It does not buy Birra Moretti from a supermarket and call itself a pub. While you naturally can’t have a line-up of beers installed along the bar, you can get a cask or keg line put in to use during the months when you are socialising regularly.

You can often find the equipment on the likes of eBay, while there are also plenty of sites taht sell the equipment, making for a much, much better set up in your bar. There are also many handy guides online that can help you set it up.

Wholesalers and breweries are often happy to sell barrels of beer to people, and it will really elevate your home bar. After all, ask yourself would you go to a pub that only sold bottles and cans? Because essentially by inviting your friends around to your home bar, that’s what you’re expecting them to do.

Provide some entertainment

Finally, every pub has entertainment, and that can be one of the simplest things in a home bar to get right. Darts is naturally a good option at present, particularly given the game’s rise following the success of 17-year-old Luke Littler. Meanwhile, if there’s space, there’s certainly scope for the likes of a pool table, table football or arcade machine.

Of course, you can also go simple too with some classic board games, or install the likes of a television or jukebox to watch live sport and get the playlists flowing.

It can be incredibly difficult to get the home bar set-up right, but follow the above and you have got a much better chance of making it a place family and friends actually want to visit and socialise in.