Father-of-two, 41, spends £20,000 creating ‘secret’ underground ‘bunker bar’ with leftover building materials from his self-build house – though his wife doesn’t love how long he spends there watching football!
- Jody Wainright’s underground bar is hidden in his garden underneath the shed
- The subterranean structure, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, doubles as a cinema
- With widescreen TV and pull-down screen, the bunker is perfect for movie nights
- Jody says the space has been a welcome distraction during Covid lockdowns
A father of two has spent £20,000 on creating a secret bunker bar in his back garden.
Jody Wainright, 41, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, says his family loves the stylish underground bar just as much as he does – although his wife isn’t such as a huge fan of the amount of time he spends down there watching football.
Jody and his family were completing their self-build home when he decided he wanted to build an underground bar using the leftover materials.
Jody says that he decided on an underground bar to save space in the garden and because it was something he hadn’t seen before.
He added: ‘I thought a bunker bar would be something different to the typical bars people usually build in their gardens.
Jody Wainright, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, built a subterranean bar for watching football and movies using £20k of construction materials
Jody has proudly displayed a signed Buzz Aldrin lunar badge on one of the walls
The underground bar is adorned with Star Wars, Batman, football and James Bond memorabilia
According to Jody, the benefits of being underground are manifold: it is cool in the summer, retains its heat in the winter and deafens the noise from parties
The bunker measures ten metres by five metres, which Jody suggests would be ‘quite intrusive’ in the garden were it above ground
The bar even comes kitted with a bathroom, making it totally unnecessary to leave – even when nature calls
‘It’s something outside the box and also has the wow factor because it’s not something you see all the time.
‘After originally joking with the builder I wanted an underground bar, one week later they started digging out the hole in the ground.
‘My favourite thing about the bar is that no one knows it’s there. It’s got a shed above it so it’s well disguised.
‘The structure was completed in around six weeks and we spent around £20k on the materials for the bunker.
Jody had a large hole dug in his garden in 2017, citing Batman’s Batcave as his inspiration
Approximately 700 tonnes of soil came out of the hole, according to Jody
The build started with the placing of a concrete foundation in the hole
‘One of the biggest challenges of the build was keeping the water out and weatherproofing the top of the bunker.
The secret bunker bar also doubles up as a cinema room where Jody and his family also enjoy watching films on the widescreen television they have installed.
There is also a screen that drops down from the ceiling which Jody uses for watching sports.
He said: ‘The bar was a godsend during the many lockdowns. It was great to have a lovely space we could appreciate and enjoy as a family.
‘My kids love the bar. They’re always down there having parties with their friends or watching movies.
‘My wife enjoys it too, although I’m not sure she enjoys how often I am down there watching football.
‘When we have people over they are blown away by the bunker when they see it. It’s not every day you get to go into an underground bar.
A shed over the entrance to the bunker serves as the reception into the subterranean bar
Football memorabilia, including a framed Diego Maradona football shirt, can be seen at the entrance to the bunker bar
Jody says the best part of having the underground bar is ‘seeing people’s faces’ when they descend the stairs for the first time and are awe-struck by what lies beneath
A screen that pulls down from the ceiling is used for movie nights
Fancy a beer? The underground hideout has been a perfect distraction from coronavirus lockdown misery, which has forced pubs to close their doors for months on end
The bar was built using 18mm MDF sheets by a workman, and Jody says he ‘loves it to bits’
Jody said the ‘dark theme’, which he has cultivated with black furniture and surfaces, is to invoke comparisons with the Batcave on which the idea was modelled
The complete lack of sunlight makes the bunker perfect for projected movies
Star Wars memorabilia, from movie posters to storm trooper helmets, are proudly displayed
‘There bar consists of a booth seating area in the corner, a bar at one end of the room with draft lager and cider. There’s also a couple of sofas and a table in the middle.
‘It’s quite glamorously decorated and I also have a few bits of sports memorabilia on display too.
‘It’s great for us when we have friends around because you can have the music on louder because people can’t hear it as we are underground.
‘So we can’t upset the neighbours which is always a plus.’
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