A bar in your home is just the tonic..
As the scales tip back in favour of the home bar; the options for having your own are developing too. Retro 1920s, 60s and 70s bars are popular and there are a number of cutting- edge modern classics
For a retro aesthetic with a little less of the kitsch factor, Pierre Cardin designed a number of beautiful "wet bars" in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The top of the large free-standing cabinets, which are on castors, flips open to reveal lots of storage and space for an ice bucket. Talisman in London has recently sold a silver nickel model and one in burr veneer. 'The Pierre Cardin is very easy to live with as it translates both as a bar and a sideboard', says Talisman's Flora Soames. 'They are very sought after and don't stay on the shop floor for long.'
The art deco heydays of the 1920s served anyone who liked a good drink well, and Talisman has also sold a Maitland Smith-designed kidney-shaped bar, covered in ostrich skin.
The Key to picking the right bar for you, according to Soames, is to plump for individuality above uniformity. 'People are certainly looking for a novel approach when it comes to choosing a bar,' she says. Which suggests even Del Boy might not have been too far off the mark.