WE HAD TO HAVE A COFFEE MACHINE FOR ESPRESSO MARTINIS

Faye Watts, 41, lives in London with her husband, steve, 47, and they run an accountancy business together.

NOTHING says welcome like a beautifully mixed cocktail, full of fresh fruit and ice and lovingly shaken into a glass.

We renovated our house three years ago, and a priority for the kitchen was a beautiful bar area, with a fitted walnut interior and chairs where we could relax at the end of the week. I think home cocktail bars once had a bit of a ‘corporate wife’ association, but thankfully times have changed — that’s not my image.

I bought all the trimmings for our bar, including a cocktail shaker, stirrers and glasses. We even had a coffee machine installed to make espresso martinis.

The bar was quite expensive — around £8,000 in total — but it’s an investment, like buying costly kitchen units. It’s now an integral part of our home. Besides, when it comes to cost per use, we must be down to pennies by now. I’m not a fan of midweek drinking but at weekends, when we get home from doing the Saturday shopping, it’s quite firmly gin o’clock.

My husband and I love entertaining and if you give someone a great gin cocktail with ginger and fresh lime, or rosemary and grapefruit, it’s always a talking point. We all end up tasting each other’s.

You’d think having our own bar would mean we consume more alcohol, but actually we end up drinking less. A delicious and painstakingly made drink is savoured, rather than thrown down like wine or beer. It also makes any evening an occasion; we often invite people for drinks and nibbles. Having a cocktail makes it a party, whereas just having a few bottles of wine is like saying ‘Come and get drunk’.

We’ve even ended up building a similar bar at our office. We wanted to offer clients a pleasant drink — what’s better than a gin and tonic after a meeting? Whether it’s gatherings at home or work, a cocktail shows that you value someone.