I COULDN’T LIVE IN A HOUSE WITHOUT ONE

eLectra caLLan, 30, is a lawyer. She lives in London with her husband dean, 36, who is a drinks and branding consultant.

I stIll live in the area where I grew up, and lots of my oldest friends are close by. In the old days I’d serve them tea and Hobnobs, but these days we’re a little more sophisticated and it’s all about the cocktails from our very own bar.

My husband and I love cocktails — Dean jokes that he knew he wanted to marry me when I told him I could never live in a house without a bar. In our last house we had a makeshift one made from Ikea furniture, with a large piece of wood placed on top. But when we moved we upscaled and built a dedicated bar from polished reclaimed wood.

It has been beautifully designed and constructed by Dean, and cost around £2,000. We use it all the time. Dean even hosts a lot of work meetings and consultations around it. We love having people round to try the latest cocktail, and it’s a running joke that people get upset if they aren’t invited over. We also have a huge projector screen which comes down and covers the door, so recently we had friends over to watch the Anthony Joshua boxing match.

It’s amazing to be able to our host our friends like this. It’s different to a real bar as it’s private and, most importantly, everyone is there only to enjoy each other’s company.

Whenever we have a celebration we ‘sabrage’ a champagne bottle — open it with a sabre — and keep the cork, so the ceiling is covered in corks. Each holds a special memory.