A DIY-savvy pensioner built a traditional British boozer in his back garden that is so realistic its replaced dying local pubs as a community hub and Neighbourhood Watch venue. Dad-of-two Tim Griffiths has splashed £5,000 transforming his shed into an incredible back garden pub complete with stained glass windows and an 'aquarium'.
The 68-year-old was inspired by his late parents hosting soirees at the indoor bar in their home, so decided to build one outdoors for him and his wife Janet, also 68, to enjoy. Using two tonnes of reclaimed pallets, the retired architecture illustrator 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 for things such as ukulele classes and Neighbourhood Watch meetings. They've also hosted Christmas Day and Burns Night in the snug too.
Tim, from Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, said: "I'm really pleased with how it all turned out. Everybody that's been to the snug has been pretty blown away to be honest.
"What started it all off was that my parents used to have a bar in their dining room for years, which was a family gathering place. The house that we're living in isn't really suitable for that, but a cousin of mine about five years ago built a pub shed in his back garden and I thought, 'ah, that's what I need to do'.
"I am a keen supporter of traditional pubs and will go out of my way to visit those on the CAMRA Heritage Interiors Register. Many pubs have been 'made over' in recent years and lost the history, interest and patina that they once contained. My pub is a homage to them but in a style of its own.
"I wouldn't want to take trade away from our local pubs, like The Duke in Sutton Coldfield, that have managed to resist the winds of change. So we tend to use it for gatherings of very specific local groups that we are involved with, who are within easy walking distance and don't have a local close enough. Along with friends and family, of course!
"We effectively offer a space for groups who don't have a local pub like many people once did. We don't have a pub that's within walking distance, so they're grateful to be able to come to The Smuggler's Notch. The nearest one is about 2.5 miles on foot.
"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 wasn't until the following year that Tim and his wife Janet, who is a retired teacher, decided to add a 'snug' named The Smuggler's Notch. Tim said: "We always wanted what I call a snug behind the bar for the winter months so we didn't just have it shut up for most of the year."
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 opti-myst 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."
He also has several 'niknaks' from his parents' bar including bottle openers, old glasses and lots of photographs. With The Smuggler's Notch paying homage to his mum and dad, Tim said it 'absolutely' makes him feel like they're there with him.
Following his dad's passing in 1999, the family sponsored the second largest pipe in then-new organ in Birmingham's Symphony Hall which now brandishes his name. Then when his mother died in more recent years, he opted to put the rose window into the snug as he thought 'it would be nice to have something to stain the family' while remembering her.
In total, Tim says he's spent between £5,000 building his pub, but insists it could have cost a lot more. He said: "The main outlay would have been the framing timber because that had to be new timber otherwise it would have been all over the place.
"If all the wood would have been new wood, we'd have ended up spending about three or four times that." 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 stained 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've given them the grand tour.
Tim said: "If people that haven't seen it before, which most of them haven't, they'll see the bar and then I'll open the door into the snug and they genuinely stand there with their mouths open because they don't expect it."
While there are still some bits he wants to add to The Smuggler's Notch, Tim said it's 'substantially finished' and has nominated himself for this year's Shed of the Year Awards with Cuprinol under its Pub/Entertainment category.
Public voting is open until July 13th, with the winner expected to be revealed in late August. You can vote here.
