Royal Navy veteran wins Pub Shed of the Year competition with garden boozer
For the second year running, the winner of Britain's Pub Shed of the Year is a Royal Navy veteran.
Former naval engineer John Simmons' hand-made pub shed, 'The Dog & Ball', which is made from as much salvaged military material as possible, even has a Royal Air Force twist as the bar ironmongery belonged to his late father-in-law who was an RAF engineer.
John said: "He had an old tool chest [which] had all of his old RAF bric-a-brac tools and metal studs and bits of old engineering pieces and so, rather than throw them down the skip, I've kept them, and when I built the bar last year, I... dressed it with some of these trinkets and these stud works."
"It's not just made from any old reclaim, it's from stuff that is absolutely close to my past and my Navy life which is just wonderful, it's fantastic."
John even displays his father-in-law's trophies and tankards from when he ran and played rugby for the RAF.
A lot of the timber that was used in the construction of the pub shed came from a reclaim yard in Littlehampton where a British Army veteran worked.
The former soldier told the Pub Shed of the Year winner about 10 available oak timbers with a Royal Navy history which turned out to be very close to John's heart.
He said: "Those timbers came from a couple of junior rates accommodation blocks in HMS Nelson which I lived in when I joined the Navy in the early 90s and they were subsequently demolished in the mid-90s.
"Those oak timbers now form the structure of the bar and the chance is that I've probably seen them or touched them when I was a 19-year-old new recruit in the Navy.
"Here we are 30 years later – it's just a brilliant part of the story."
The well-stocked pub has a dart board, big screen TV, fairy lights, comfortable sofas, decking, and a beer garden – perfect for a night in with friends and family.
He said: "Doing it all from salvage was, of course, a challenge – thank goodness for Facebook marketplace, advice from the fantastic members of the [Garden Shed Pubs & Nightclubs] UK Facebook page and a very understanding wife who I dragged around local reclaim yards, sifting through old timbers!"
Last year's winner lain is also a Royal Navy veteran. The brass beer taps in his pub shed, Weety's Bar, are from the Petty Officers' Mess of HMS Ark Royal which he salvaged when it was scrapped.
He said: "I was so glad to acquire them and give them a new lease of life."
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the price of a pint in the UK has increased more than 70% with reports that some pubs in London are charging more than £8.
Combine that with the current cost of living crisis and it's no wonder Brits are searching for ways to save on nights out.
Bar sign-making friends, Two Fat Blokes Bar Signs Emporium, joined forces with Pub Shed Radio and Garden Shed Pubs & Nightclubs, a private Facebook group with more than 285,000 members, to create the pub shed competition to celebrate the growing community.
Ashley Turner, co-owner of Two Fat Blokes Bar Signs Emporium, said: "The quality of bars and diversity of the entries has been phenomenal.
"We ran the competition to showcase the amazing community of pub sheds in the UK.
"The community has exploded during the pandemic and now with the cost of a pint heading north of £6 the trend looks set to continue.
"The Dog & Ball is a perfect example of an amazing pub shed and deserved to win with his amazing hand-built pub."
The Two Fat Blokes Bar Signs Emporium is a small company of two self-described 'rotund men' who, following redundancy during the Covid-19 pandemic, started their own company to make and sell bar signs to fellow back garden publicans.
This year, there were 1,066 entries with a staggering 4,400 people voting for their winner out of the three finalists – a mini countryside-style pub called The Tiger in Somerset, a nightclub-themed bar The Stagger Inn in Manchester and of course, The Dog & Ball near Portsmouth.
The winner was broadcast live on Pub Shed Radio in quite an exciting way.
Representatives from Two Fat Blokes, Pub Shed Radio and the Garden Shed Pubs & Nightclubs Facebook group knocked on John's door with a DJ rig to broadcast live to the nation.
But why is it called The Dog & Ball?
John said: "That's accolade to our lovely labradoodle who loves his ball and has made one corner of our new garden pub his new home."
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