Neighbours Build Gin Hatch In Garden Fence To Drink Together During Lockdown

Ordinarily, on a glorious bank holiday weekend like this, we would be packing into beer gardens across the country to share a drink with our mates. Sadly, social distancing measures mean this can't be done at the moment, but neighbours in Aldridge, near Walsall, have devised a way of sharing a drink together while staying at home and two metres apart.

Kris Hindley, 39, and Tony Bennison, 54, would regularly drink gin together prior to lockdown and were sad to lose this part of their lives when quarantine measures were introduced.

The pair subsequently decided to build a gin hatch in the fence that divides their gardens by cutting a hole in it - measuring a metre wide by half a metre high - and mounting the fence panels to a piece of ply wood to form a bar table.

The table is split into two halves which are attached with latches and chains on either side, meaning both Kris and Tony have a surface to use and the fence looks normal when it's up.

Kris sits in a director-style chair on his side while Tony uses a bar stool, as his land is lower down. Kris said the DIY project was worth the effort, with the pair using the hatch 'most nights'.

The GinTing company founder said: "It's good in this current climate with social distancing we've got to try and have a drink together and be safe.

"We've got bar runners, a bottle opener and run electricity down to have a patio heater there. It's quite cool to be fair.

"It was cut out and painted last weekend. We use it most nights."

Kris said the pair got the idea from social media after seeing neighbours in Australia pull off a similar project and it sounds like it has proven to be a successful temporary solution.

He said: "We built the houses together and got to know Tony and [wife] Sue well over the years. We both have bars in each other's gardens, which is quite good for a barbecue.

"Usually one weekend we're at theirs and vice versa. But obviously we can't be this close.

"However, we can have the music playing from the cave while we're sitting there with the patio heater on having a few gins together."

Remember people, drink responsibly - and by that I mean, not in social gatherings.