The invention of the 'man cave'

Man cave, pub shed, backyard bar - just some of the names given to the new phenomenon that is having your very own pub/bar right in the comfort of your own home, or in your back garden.

There are many benfits to having your own back garden bar. One of the key ones being that it is obviously a lot more affordable to stay at home and drink, rather than to go to a pub or bar. Let's say that you're at a bar, on a big night out in the city and you wanted to order a double shot of vodka with a mixer, standard price for a drink like that would be around £8.00. Now picture that you have your own home bar, and you want to have the same drink but this time you only had to pay around £18.00 for a litre bottle of vodka and a litre bottle of mixer for £2.00. It may be pointing out the obvious but, in terms of money, it would be more cost effective to just buy the bottles yourself. The same can be applied to ordering pints of beers, ciders, ales - just about any kind of alcoholic beverage you order at a pub.

The question is, why have home-bars grown in popularity over the past few years?

During the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of established businesses were forced to close their doors to the public to keep people safe from the virus. Unfortunately, a lot of those businesses were even forced to shut down permanently because they could not afford to keep their business afloat. The hospitality industry was one of the worst affacted industries, with new laws that saw places like pubs, bars and restaurants forced to close their doors to the public for months. So, what did people do when they were told they could no longer go to the pub for a pint? They began drinking more at home, hosting garden and house parties/gatherings (under whatever rules were made at the time). 

Take a look at this article from the Birmingham Live, where Mark Walker, a man from West Brom had built his own pub in his back garden during the pandemic after his place of work temporarily shut. Mark equpped his new pub out with plenty of alcohol, a tv and even one of our very own Pint365 beer engines.  

So, could this sudden popularity for home bars and man caves lead to the death of pub culture?

It is unlikely that there will ever be a time where all pubs and bars are completely shut down because of some people now preferring to now drink at home, Afterall, pub culture is a huge part of Britain and the 'traditional British pub' is still something that drives tourism in this country. Drinking at home may be becoming the more favourable choice for some but others may agree that being in a pub just has a different feeling to it. Take last year for example, when pretty much everybody flocked to their local pubs and bars to watch England compete in the Euros. I will say that when it comes to football, I'm not the biggest fan of football and I do not follow any team, but when me and my friends started to go to our local pub to watch England play, the energy there was something different. As England progressed in the tournament, I found myself becoming more and more excited for each game that followed, a part of the exctiment was because England were doing so well and the other part was because I was going to be in the pub, having a few drinks, having a great time with my friends and sharing the same experience that many others in the pub were sharing. 

However, myself and many others have noticed that even though the rules and regulations are now completely relaxed when it comes to hospitality, it just isn't the same as what it once was before the pandemic. Maybe with pubs and bars being closed, a lot of people got used to staying at home to drink and that could be the reason that a lot of pubs are not seeing the regular crowd they would normally attract on a Friday or Saturday before the pandemic. It is understandable why so many are still hesitant about going out, after all, the coronavirus pandemic is something that nobody really anticipated and prepared for and is still affecting a lot of lives now 2 years after it began.

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