This Wigan firefighter builds bespoke home bars on his days off

As a firefighter, Gordon Worthington quite rightly deserves to put his feet up on his days off. Instead, he’s been using his spare time to build bespoke home bars!

Gordon, from Winstanley, has steadily built up his side business after building his own impressive garden bar, The Dog House.

Nowadays, his Raise The Bar page gets up to 200 requests a month from residents eager for Gordon to design and build their dream bar from scratch.

Gordon, 39, said; “I built my own bar about eight years ago. I’ve always played about with wood, I’m an enthusiastic amateur.

“When I moved to a new house in Winstanley, it had quite a nice garden, so I thought I’d build an outside bar. It looks the part!

“Because of that, when we had people round, someone asked me if I could help them build their own bar, which I did. Somebody saw that, and asked me if I’d help with theirs, and it went on like that.

“From that, a few years ago, I’ve never not been building a bar.

“Quite often, firefighters will do a second job. We work two days, two nights, then have four days off. It’s on those four days off that I do the bar building.

“It just went through the roof, and led to me setting up a business page. It took off from there. I get calls and messages non-stop. I’ll go out to people, give them a quote, then build them a bar. It’s as simple as that.”

It takes Gordon anywhere from four to six weeks to complete a single bar, and as a one-man business, his output has remained constantly busy over the last three years.

But with the start of the pandemic last year forcing us all to stay at home and forego the pub, Gordon has seen his inbox fill up rapidly.

He said: “I’ve been just as busy during the lockdown, but I don’t mix with anyone. I work alone, and work outside.

“The actual output of work has remained the same, which is non-stop, but the enquiries have gone through the roof, and obviously I can’t do them all. I maybe get 200 enquiries a month.”

Gordon also has a secret method to make his solid-wood bar tops keep a high shine.

“It almost looks like a piece of glass,” he said.

And the appeal of his craftsmanship has seen him branch out into making bespoke tables, kitchen islands and other wooden units, using the same wood finishing technique and made with “live edge” slabs, made from a large untrimmed piece of wood to give a rustic, unique feel.

He said: “The impression I get from my customers is that it’s not about having somewhere to get drunk on a Friday night, it’s about having somewhere to get together or get away from it all.”

To find out more, visit facebook.com/GsRaiseTheBar.

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