The biggest advantage of a garden room bar, besides its favourable location, freedom to set your own hours and relatively cheaper prices for a pint depending on how much your local off-license charges, is that you have a blank canvas to paint any type of drinking hole you want.
A lot of people will be inspired by their local pub, or a particular tavern or cocktail bar they happen to frequent. Others will be drawn to the allure of historic bars such as the underground speakeasy, classic old-fashioned inns or saloon bars.
However, one of the most fascinating aspects of bars is that there are dozens of different types, each with long-running traditions, quirks and unique elements to their designs.
Here are five of the most interesting, with some top tips on how to adapt them for your garden room.
Cantina
Not to be confused with the bizarre alien bar at Mos Eisley Spaceport (although this is also a great source of inspiration), the classic Spanish and Mexican cantina is filled with tradition, terrific food and tequila.
The traditional home of the revolution, cantinas were homely, warmly lit, bright but often highly personalised, typically having whitewashed walls that contrast with traditional dark hardwood staining. Many often have bright tiles and a hodgepodge of meaningful pictures and trinkets hung on the wall.
There are two key elements to a great cantina: tequila and botanas, a set of appetisers and snacks often served for free as long as you keep drinking.
Ouzeri
A classic traditional Greek taverna, an ouzeri is in some respects similar to a cantina in concept, only replacing tequila with ouzo and botanas with meze dishes.
Of course, the little differences change everything, and the iconic aniseed-flavoured liqueur is meant to be enjoyed in a very different way to the shot, lime and salt of a typical tequila experience.
Ouzeri are always bright, always social and best enjoyed in the late afternoon of a hot sunny day. They typically have whitewashed walls complemented with pastel blue or other similarly summery colours, with a particularly homely vibe familiar to anyone who has taken a holiday to one of the Greek islands.
Izakaya
The equivalent of a Japanese pub or cantina, an izakaya is far from the only type of bar available in Japan, but it is perhaps the one that has the most traditional roots.
Initially devised as sake shops that people could drink in, they slowly developed into places people could sit down and eat sakana, a tapas-like appetiser such as yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), sashimi (raw fish slices), edamame (soybean pods) and gyoza (dumplings).
The key to making a successful izakaya in your home, aside from the sake, shochu and set of appetisers, is about creating an ambience of slow sociability. It is one of the few Japanese dining experiences where food is expected to be shared.
An izakaya often has traditional low tables set up, with the expectation that customers sit on tatami, although bar seating and even more traditional dining tables are often an option today.
Fern Bars
Whilst many of the most interesting bar and pub designs are inspired by traditional taverns from around the world, another highly emulatable aesthetic is the eclectic fern bar.
Highly popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, fern bars were typically brightly lit with gaudy imitation Tiffany lamps and surrounded by ferns and other plants, alongside a deluge of brass, candy striping and a general celebration of bright aesthetics that could gleefully be replicated.
Initially designed to create more equal drinking spaces during the second wave of feminism, fern bars were the home of the yuppie for nearly a decade before it was largely replaced by the upscale wine bar.
Ratskeller
German for the “council’s cellar”, the ratskeller was the figurative and literal foundation of the town, often being located near to or literally under a council building.
This was at odds with a lot of public house and tavern traditions in other countries, which often had to operate underground to avoid falling foul of somewhat repressive laws governing drinking and drunkenness.
Because of this, the aesthetic of ratskellers tends to mix the traditional wood and brick look of a wine cellar with stained glass windows, historic murals, traditional wooden furniture and warm lighting that captures the intimate aesthetic best.
In practice, there is a lot of scope to personalise a ratskeller, as long as it prioritises (ideally German) beer and wine and the friendly, cosy atmosphere defined by the Germans as Gemutlichkeit.