The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire October 2014 | Page 5

BUSINESS NEWS

UK’S ONLY LIVING BAR
IS A GROWING DREAM
FOR ENTREPRENEUR
A Wiltshire entrepreneur has built a unique growing
business - a bar for hire that utilises living plants as
part of its design. A self-confessed ‘horticulturalist
with a love of beer’ Tim Goodman’s Living Bar –
believed to be the only one in the UK - incorporates
everything from vertical walls of plants to full-size
hawthorn and maple trees.
Already, the Living Bar has been installed in
the hospitality area between the two largest
stages at Glastonbury Festival, where it
has been propped up by the likes of Peter
Gabriel, Robert Plant and Wayne Rooney.
And the general public will have had the
chance to see it at the Feast Street food
festival in Frome, not far from Living Bar
HQ in Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire.
Next year, his bars will be seen at a
number of music festivals, including
Glastonbury, Latitude and Womad. And
its creator is branching out, hoping to take

the innovative bar to major business events
and weddings.
“The Living Bar is really eye-catching and
never fails to grab people’s attention,” said
Tim. “Customers love little touches like the
bartender plucking fresh mint from the wall
behind him for Mojitos and Pimms.
“The Living Bar concept allows customers
to enjoy the plants from wherever they are
sitting or standing. Not only are the plants
aesthetically pleasing, but just being around
plants makes people feel better within
themselves.”

This article was written for The Living Bar Company by Peter Davison of Secret Agent Marketing, after Tim
Goodman won a press release in a competition to mark the first anniversary of The Business Exchange.

The Living Bar is also environmentally
friendly, made of sustainably-sourced beech
plywood, and only needs a wooden mallet
to assemble it.
The plants are all grown at Barters Farm
Nurseries in the neighbouring village of
Chapmanslade, which is run by husband
and wife team Legh and Di Walker.
“We’ve always hired out plants,” said
Legh. “This is a really interesting way of
using the plants we grow at the nursery,
and a great example of small businesses
working together.”

Before launching The Living Bar Company,
Tim - who has a degree in horticulture from
Writtle College in Essex - taught the subject
a Ё