Back-garden bars: How to build or buy one, and what it costs

Home garden bars, tucked into gardens around the country, are helping to enhance the outdoors experience for many. And when it comes to style and budget, there’s something for everyone.

Fun and sun

McGrane's Club Tropicana, a bar in the garden of a four-bed semi in Ratoath, Co Meath, will celebrate its first anniversary this summer.

“It was a Father’s Day present that I kind of bought for myself last year,” says Darragh McGrane. He and wife, Angie, have worked from home throughout the pandemic. A bar was the final addition to an overall garden revamp they completed in lockdown.

“We struggled with the kids being at home and out of the creche, and juggling work and home-schooling,” says McGrane. “But the silver lining is the money we would have spent on creche or holidays, we were able to invest in the garden.” And so a bar was born.

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McGrane’s bar was supplied by Garden Bar Ireland, a company conceived in the pandemic that has installed more than80 bars in the past year. The starting price for one of Garden Bar Ireland’s 6ft x 4ft wooden bars delivered and installed is €950. Optional add-ons include single and double tower beer taps, authentic bar stools and outdoor heating. The company’s Instagram account tells a tale of Irish homeowners making the most of their great outdoors. Customers include front-line workers, hairdressers, and wives who have bought bars as surprises for their husbands.

McGrane has customised his bar to create a venue where Brian Flanagan, the bartender played by Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail, would look at home.

“We wanted to put our own stamp on it. I put in some extra shelves, a double fridge like you would see in a pub, LED strips around the outside and there is a heater attached to the front so you can sit out at night and keep warm.”

Moscow Mule copper cups and a pink “Cocktails & Dreams” neon sign sourced from Amazon complete the look. When it came to christening the place, the vote from a friends’ Whatsapp group was unanimous.

“It had to be ‘McGrane’s Club Tropicana,’ ” says McGrane. “We were all away in Marbella two years ago and that Wham! song was our jam.”

An artist friend designed the logo, which is stencilled on to the bar’s bespoke awning.

The bar’s two best customers are he and his wife, says McGrane.

“We can sit there until 1am with a nice glass of wine and a takeaway after the kids have gone to bed and just chill out. We’re looking forward to being able to get back out more as the weather gets better.”

On finer afternoons last summer, when restrictions allowed, friends joined for a barbecue.

“We could feel like we were away in some sense. The kids can go up to bed and you know they are only upstairs.”

While he looks forward to a drink in a pub when they open, the cost of alcohol and babysitting will be hard to swallow.

“It would be great to get back, but we’ve just bought a new Weber barbecue and a pavilion to go over the L-shaped couch so we can stay out even if it rains.”

Bahamas in Walkinstown

Designer and former Home of the Year contestant Katrina Carroll is the proprietor of a tiki bar in the garden of her Walkinstown home. She built it last year.

“We were in the middle of lockdown. One of my favourite films is Cocktail and I was like, oh my God, I’d love a real Caribbean, Bahamas-vibe tiki bar in the back.”

She and her husband are not big drinkers, but their bar was never really about boozing.

“It gets you away from the TV. You are actually sitting outside and chatting to each other. It actually feels like you are out.”

Followers of her Instagram account, @vintageirishkat, will know all about Carroll's quirky style and impressive DIY skills. Scouring skips in her neighbourhood, she turned others' clear-out trash into treasure.

“There were loads of pallets and bits of wood. We just kind of started throwing it together. We used old bamboo matting to cover the bar and me and my little girls made the ‘Tiki Bar’ sign and painted it. We did all solar lights and people went mad for it on Instagram and it cost us absolutely nothing.”

Her bar doesn’t close.

“Me and my husband on a Saturday night would have a date night in the garden and it is lovely,” says Carroll. By day, it doubles as a play area for daughters Nainsi (6) and Bonnie (3), who enjoy making fancy mocktails for two patient customers.

After winter storms the bar was the worse for wear, so Carroll has given her tiki bar a summer refresh.

“We bought new bamboo in Homebase and an umbrella from a website called Sklum. We’ve updated it for €40. We got a fire pit in Homesavers for €35. I’m thrilled with it.”

When restrictions ease, there will be some VIP guests.

“I can’t wait to have my mam and my sister and my friends over and have a barbecue, that will be lovely. Maybe it’s my age, but I’d rather be in the comfort of home, to be honest.”

Top tap

Garden bars may be having a resurgence, but having a tap at home isn't new, says Kieran Curtin of the Brew Crew. The 2004 smoking ban brought a noticeable increase in business, and his company repairs some home bar equipment that has been passed from father to son.

“Most of our customers would be aged 50 and above, married with older kids, or a dad and a son using the same bar. Fellas who are settled and who don’t feel the need to be going to the pub.”

New garden bar owners wanting alcohol on draft will need a tap or tower that sits on their bar, costing €100-€500, says Curtin. The below-the-counter workings of connections, gas regulators and coolers will cost from €600. Guinness is the most popular keg among his home bar customers. He sells a 20-litre keg for €105 which contains 35 pints – €3 per pint. A 30-litre keg of Wicklow Wolf Elevation pale ale costs €170 and contains 53 pints – about €3.20 a pint.

“Kegs pass their optimal taste point after 2½ or three weeks, depending on whether it’s in the fridge or not,” says Curtin. “We recommend that people clean their lines every time they put in a fresh keg and buy the smallest keg they can.”

Maintenance and hygiene are critical to the perfect pint.

“There is some expertise to balancing the temperature of the beer and getting the pressure of the gas right.”

This hobby element is something many home bar owners enjoy.

“There isn’t a type of house from Dalkey to Dunboyne that I haven’t been in,” says Curtin. “The part that we like is that mostly our customers are the sort of people who are really nice, who are good hosts and who like to entertain when they can. They’ve had their hands tied for the past year, but hopefully they can have a nice summer.”