The buyer of this smart Chiswick semi won’t have to wander far for an impromptu pint.
Tucked away on private cul-de-sac Staveley Gardens, the house features three bedrooms, a study and a utility room — as well as a home bar dressed in all manner of pub memorabilia.
It was the decades-long project of seller Brenda Irons’ late husband James, who for years worked as a drayman for now-defunct London brewery Watney Combe & Reid – better known simply as Watney’s — in nearby Isleworth.
“He had the idea that he’d like to run a pub, but at the time we had two small children and I thought it perhaps wasn’t an ideal place to bring them up. So he made one of his own,” said Mrs Irons.
Mr Irons spent two years building an indoor bar in their family home — a ten minute walk from the Thames — accessed via a rather unassuming door in the study.
Dozens of coasters cover the walls of the 6.58 by 2.95 metre space, while Toby jugs and steins hang from hooks on the ceiling. Rows of rare miniatures line the high shelves behind the bar and there’s even a slot machine in an alcove.
The full collection represents decades of dogged accumulation. “James was collecting memorabilia from all sorts of places — junk shops, markets, anywhere he could pick up anything. We’d bring back things from holiday, and people started to buy them for us as gifts.”
“Sometimes when he was on delivery he’d ask the publicans if they had anything in the cellar they didn’t need anymore.”
When they ran out of space on the beams, “he extended the bar upwards and started collecting keyrings,” said Mrs Irons.
With direct access to the garden, the mini pub became somewhere for family and friends to raise a glass together — whatever the occasion. “We’ve had a wedding, two christenings and a couple of wakes, as well as parties every New Year’s Eve. It’s been a real gathering place for the family.”
After almost 45 years here, Mrs Irons has decided it’s time to downsize. “It’s a case of needs must — it’s been a really happy family home and I’m very sad to be going. It’s a big house with a big garden in a nice little corner of Chiswick.”
It’s now on sale with local agent Whitman & Co for £950,000.
So what of the collection?
“The family will take what they want, and everything else I’ll probably box up for now. I’ve got several grandchildren so maybe one of them will have a bar one day,” Mrs Irons said. “I have no idea what the collection would be worth. We’ve got quite a few things with the old Watney’s label, which of course no longer exists.”
First brewed in 1837, Watney’s went on to produce the UK’s best-selling beer and kickstarted the keg party in the 1960’s with its famous Red Barrel. It ceased trading in 1979, though a craft brewing business was launched under the name in 2014 on the back of a crowdfunding campaign.
Naturally, Mrs Irons made time for a farewell tipple before the boxing up begins. “Two weekends ago, all my family and a few close friends gathered again and we had one last party in the bar.”
